There is a strong case that France and Spain are the two best teams left in this World Cup, and it comes down to a simple balance, scoring goals at one end while shutting them out at the other.
France have found the net more than anyone in the competition, yet conceded just twice, while Spain have built their run on the tightest defence in the tournament, letting in only a single goal all the way through to the semi-finals.
No other side left standing manages that same combination of cutting edge and defensive discipline.
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France’s attack has been the story of their tournament. Kylian Mbappe leads the line, level with Lionel Messi at the top of the Golden Boot race, backed by Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Desire Doue, a front line few nations in the world could handle.
Spain have taken an alternate route, patient in possession and rarely opened up at the back, a record that included seeing off Belgium in the quarter-finals to reach this stage, with Mikel Merino’s late winner proving the difference in a tie that could easily have gone the other way.
That defensive record has been the foundation of a wider achievement. Spain have now gone further at a World Cup than at any point since they lifted the trophy in 2010, and a win over France would send them into the final for the first time since that triumph.
The individual duel to watch is Mbappe against Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, two of La Liga’s brightest talents meeting on the international stage with a place in the World Cup final at stake.
The two nations know each other well. Their last meeting came in June 2025, when Spain won an extraordinary 5-4 Nations League semi-final, the highest scoring game in the rivalry’s history, and they have won the last two encounters between the sides overall. Their only previous meeting at a World Cup came back in 2006, when France won 3-1 in the round of 16 on their way to that year’s final.
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There is a personal story running alongside the football too. Didier Deschamps has led France to a third straight World Cup semi-final, a feat matched only by West Germany in the 1980s and Brazil around the turn of the millennium, and he has done it having returned to the squad following his mother’s death.
Deschamps is now one win away from a third World Cup final as a coach, and beating Spain would move him a step closer to becoming only the second man in history to win the tournament twice from the touchline.
Style, history and individual brilliance all collide on Tuesday, as France and Spain meet with a World Cup final within reach.
Photo: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
