DALLAS STADIUM<\/strong> \u2014 Long after the final whistle \u2014 as the lawnmowers came out to maintain the grass and broadcast crews were in the middle of their standups \u2014 Spain fans remained. They were dancing and singing and chanting.<\/p>\n “Ole! Ole! Ole!” rang throughout the stadium where their team had just delivered a commanding performance, defeating mighty France 2-0 to book their spot in the program\u2019s second-ever World Cup final.<\/p>\n This was the third straight summer Spain has knocked France out in the semifinals of a major tournament: there was the 2-1 victory at Euro 2024, then a thrilling 5-4 win in last year’s Nations League, and now Tuesday’s 2-0 triumph behind goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro in front of 70,176 fans at the home of the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n La Roja is riding a 37-game unbeaten streak and there\u2019s an overwhelming sense that it will keep growing.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s a dream come true,” an elated Porro said after the match via interpreter. “I couldn\u2019t even dream of this. I\u2019m so happy. I\u2019m so happy because of the team\u2019s attitude from beginning to end. We gave it our all in order to go through to the final.”<\/p>\n (Photo by Ian MacNicol\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Despite being Europe\u2019s defending champion, Spain has been a bit overshadowed by other narratives at this World Cup. The spotlight instead has mostly been on Lionel Messi and Argentina\u2019s improbable comebacks, England giving fans reason to believe again, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 racing Messi for the Golden Boot, and Erling Haaland capturing hearts of soccer fans everywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n Spain hasn\u2019t relied on flair or dramatic moments to get results. Instead, they’ve been ruthlessly efficient, disciplined and organized, using an aggressive high press to neutralize one of the world\u2019s most dangerous attacks. Mbapp\u00e9, who entered the semifinal with eight goals, managed just three shots and none on target.<\/p>\n Spain has outscored its seven opponents 13-1, and recorded its record sixth shutout of this World Cup against a French side that had recorded 16 goals.<\/p>\n (Photo by Hannah Peters – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Spain\u2019s control of the game frustrated France to the point that Les Bleus never even had a chance to mount a comeback. There have been plenty of examples this tournament of teams finding late goals and ways back into matches. France famously did it in the World Cup final four years ago and desperately hoped to do it again.<\/p>\n But this time, they failed to capitalize on an empty net in the 81st minute. Mbapp\u00e9 let his aggravation get the best of him when he was shown a yellow card in the 86th after colliding with goalkeeper Unai Simon, and three minutes later, he sent a free kick from just outside the box sailing over the crossbar. And now, the French superstar has to return to his Spanish club Real Madrid.<\/p>\n France, No. 1 in FIFA\u2019s rankings entering the semifinals, was a popular pick to win it all and expected to reach its third straight World Cup final. It will play in the third-place match instead.<\/p>\n “We were below our standards,” French manager Didier Deschamps said via interpreter. “We should have been at our maximum and give it our all, and we did not, unfortunately.”<\/p>\n Spain will await the winner of Wednesday\u2019s semifinal between Argentina and England. De la Fuente said he doesn\u2019t care who wins. He\u2019s friends with Lionel Scaloni, but thought the Three Lions were a favorite before the tournament began.<\/p>\n “When you\u2019re facing a team like us,” de la Fuente said, “we\u2019re unbeatable. And that\u2019s how we\u2019re feeling right now.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY DALLAS STADIUM \u2014 Long after the final whistle \u2014 as the lawnmowers came out to maintain the grass and broadcast crews were in the middle of their standups \u2014 Spain fans remained. They were dancing and singing and chanting. “Ole! Ole! Ole!” rang throughout the stadium where their team had just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}