Spain Spots Themselves in the World Cup Final

Published: Tuesday, July 14, 2026

by David Martino

Dallas Stadium in Arlington Texas is where the first FIFA Semi-final game was played earlier today. France came into this matchup against Spain as the favorites to not only win this match but the whole thing on the final Sunday July 19th. However, they will now be participating in the third-place game after losing 2-0 against Spain.

 

Out of the gate the matchup was hot with Adrien Rabiot of France received a yellow card in the 9th minute of the matchup for mistiming a challenge in which he had stepped on Dani Olmo's foot outside of the box and being subbed out following this. After that the tide remained in favor of France until Spain had scored their first of 2 goals. In the 22nd minute Mikel Oyarzabal scored on a penalty kick after French defender Lucas Digne kicked Lamine Yamal in the thigh. A massive blow to the juggernaut France. Shortly after this however, Spain had received its first yellow card, Marc Cucurella received one in the 31st minute after committing a foul on Michael Olise.

 

Following the goal & yellow card, Spain had taken much of the control for a majority of the remaining minutes in the first half, their momentum coming out of the gate in the second half as well with the game remaining quite until the 58th minute when the game icing goal is shot by Pedro Porro to put Spain up 2 goals to none. This remains like this for the rest of the game with stellar defense being played even France had majority control of the ball and momentum for the remainder of the contest.

 

The defense being played eventually got to star player for France, Kylian Mbappé. Mbappé rushed toward Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simón and made contact with him as he was going to retrieve the ball, leading to the second French yellow card of the contest. In the 86th minute. Even after the yellow card, France kept the pressure on to not go out without a fight but as the clock wound down to the final seconds, an upset had happened in Arlington.

 

With their 6th shutout of the tournament, Spain’s dream to bring back the World Cup remains alive and well. They will go on to play the winner of the Argentina and England game in the final at MetLife Stadium on Sunday July 19th at 3:00pm while France will play for third place against the loser of the Argentina England match on Saturday, July 18th at 5:00pm at Miami Stadium.

 

For World Cup updates follow wsou news on instagram or reach out to David Martino at david.martino@student.shu.edu for more information.

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