World Cup: France eliminated by clinical Spain
France's impressive run in the 2026 World Cup came to an end on Tuesday afternoon in Dallas, as the two-time winners lost 2-0 to a clinical Spain. Catch up on all the action with the Ligue 1 McDonald's team.
An early mistake proves costly
France manager Didier Deschamps made two changes to his lineup, bringing back in former AS Monaco midfielder Aurélien Tchouameni, while Bradley Barcola started ahead of his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Désiré Doué on the left. For Spain, Paris Saint-Germain's Fabián Ruiz was in for Spain ahead of Pedri in midfield. Spain dominated early play, and the trickery of Dani Olmo saw Adrien Rabiot booked, putting him under plenty of pressure, but their best chance was a free kick which was poorly taken by Alex Baena.
On 16 minutes, Kylian Mbappé was nearly away on the counter, but Spain recovered to clear for a corner. The first half would turn on a mistake by Lucas Digne, though, with the veteran left back caught ball-watching and fouling Lamine Yamal in the box to award Spain a penalty, which was duly converted by Mikel Oyarzabal for his fifth goal of the tournament.
With France now trailing for the first time in the tournament, a response was needed, but Les Bleus struggled to issue it, and then saw William Saliba forced off on the half hour. France showed flashes on the counter, but the next big chance would fall to Spain, with only a fine tackle by Dayot Upamecano denying Ruiz doubling the lead. At the other end, Spain continued to show good organization, as France battled against La Rioja's offside trap, and would go into the half down a goal.
Spain will play in the World Cup 2026 final! 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/Y2jwDvbHW8
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) July 14, 2026
Porro pounces to double the lead
Into the second half, France continued to struggle to get a foothold in the match, and Deschamps inevitably brought on Doué, and moments later the Paris Saint-Germain man was crucial, but not in the way he hoped. After Doué failed to track the run of Pedro Porro on a through ball, the Spurs defender sliced inside to double the lead just before the hour, putting France well and truly under the cosh. Moments later, Yamal had the ball in the net once more, but the offside flag was up quickly.
Just before the hydration break, Mbappé had a fine chance that was just defected wide by Marc Cucurella for a corner, and France were nearly in on ten minutes after Unai Simon came off his line, but France would get no closer to the Spanish goal, and will have to resign themselves to a place in Saturday's third-place playoff.
Read more:
