​Over 70,000 fans in Arlington witnessed France fizzling out in a disastrous defeat to Spain in the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Luis de la Fuente’s unbeaten run with Spain in tournaments remains intact as he guided his nation to its only second Men’s World Cup grand final.The manner of the defeat is worse than the result for France as they were thoroughly contained by Spain. Taking their shots with deadly precision, La Roja shook Les Bleus out of the game and never let them back in again. Here are the match observations from this clash.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementYou have to give it to the Spaniards this one. They read France like a book. The flicks, turns, feints and through balls had very little effect in getting past Rodri, Fabián Ruiz and their defenders. Their individual awareness and team cohesion was too strong for the likes of Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappé to flair their way.The through ball anticipation really killed many attacks before they even started. Olise was neutralized by numbers and good anticipation from Spain. With the CAM effectively out of attacks, Deschamps’ men had a very difficult time in creating from just the wings. Not only did Spain have more than 50 percent tackles than France, but several of their 22 tackles forced the opponents to restart from the scratch which took the sting out of the French attack.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe early penalty scored by Mikel Oyarzabal gave his side a huge edge. There wasn’t much to separate the two sides for most of the first half. However, a controversial penalty call offered Spain the opportunity to get a perfect start. We had previously pointed out how inefficient France have been in front of goal and a team that can take its chances were always going to be a huge threat to them.Apart from the penalty, which contributes 0.79xG, the expected goals statistic from Spain was just 0.84. Pedro Porro’s shot that you can see above to score the second goal was clinical as it was his team’s only second shot on goal. It basically finished the game as France had showed no inclination that they could score at all against this well-knit defensive unit.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThere can be no defending the French forwards. The opposition did a commendable job in completely isolating them from the team and reducing them to just individual attackers against a team of defenders. However, they had some good moments where better decision making could have resulted in at least one goal.Désiré Doué had an empty net to shoot and took all the time in the world. By then, Unai Simon got his angles covered. Ousmane Dembelé was free and could have finished it but Doué made an absolute meal of it as he shot right at the out of position keeper. This was one of the best chances of the game for France. Kylian Mbappé was dispossessed by Cucurella right in front of goal where a mere tap in would have sufficed to score.AdvertisementAdvertiseme