Spain beats France 2-0, books its spot in the World Cup final

Spain is through to the 2026 World Cup final. A 2-0 win over France in Tuesday's first semifinal at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was more one-sided than the coin-flip most people, myself included, called it before kickoff. (NBC News)

How it happened

Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring in the 22nd minute from the penalty spot, and Pedro Porro doubled the lead in the 58th to put the game out of reach. France, who had leaned on Kylian Mbappe all tournament, never found a real foothold against a Spanish midfield that controlled the pace from start to finish. (ESPN)

The pre-match storyline was Mbappe against Lamine Yamal, two of the sport's biggest names on opposite sides of the same midfield battle. On the night, Yamal's side did the more complete job as a team, and Spain's depth through the middle of the pitch made the difference rather than any single moment of individual brilliance. (Al Jazeera)

What is next

Spain now waits for Wednesday's second semifinal in Atlanta, Argentina against England, to find out its opponent. The final is set for Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. France will play in the third-place match against whichever of Argentina or England loses on Wednesday.

My take

I picked Spain to edge this one on the strength of their midfield, and it played out about as clean as that read could have gone. A penalty and a second-half break was enough, France's attack looked a step off all night, and Spain barely needed to get out of second gear to close it out. If Argentina gets past England on Wednesday, Sunday's final is a rematch of two teams that have both looked genuinely complete this tournament, not just lucky. That is the final I want to watch.

For how France and Spain got to this point, see the quarterfinal recap, and for the full Semifinal Sunday preview, see this earlier post. You can find everything this studio builds at jcmobileappstudio.com/apps.