World Cup 2026 Soccer The World Cup assumption Spain proved very wrong By Ethan Sears Published July 14, 2026, 9:34 p.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google ARLINGTON, Texas — We’ve had it all wrong, all tournament.
Instead of France’s front four, it was Spain’s midfield three. Instead of Kylian Mbappé, this World Cup is about Rodri. And the trophy is Spain’s to lose.
What other conclusion is there to draw after Spain 2, France 0 on Bastille Day in Dallas? Luis de la Fuente’s side marched into the World Cup final in such dominant fashion that it would be hard to conjure up a comparison, had one not presented itself on the 60-yard video board inside Cowboys Stadium.
Iker Casillas, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos and Xavi Hernández — Spain’s goalkeeper, two center backs and central midfielder at the 2010 World Cup — were pictured, all sitting together in a suite to watch this dismantling. Yeah, that pretty much fits.
“Our message was that we were probably facing one of the best national teams in the world,” De la Fuente said. “However, they were going to face the best team. The best group in the world.”
Not since South Africa has a Spanish national team looked so inevitable. Unai Simón never even had to make a save.
Lamine Yamal said Spain wouldn’t fear France, and by the end, it was Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola quaking in their boots. The obvious problem France coach Didier Deschamps had to solve from the moment this matchup became clear — his numerical disadvantage in the midfield given the four attackers his team played with all tournament — became the advantage Spain rode all afternoon. Stunningly, Deschamps never seemed to attempt a solution.
“We knew that ball possession was gonna be super important for us,” Pedro Porro said. “That we would have to fight their strikers, their forwards, so we feel super happy.”
Fabián Ruiz, Dani Olmo and Rodri, a Ballon d’Or winner who for some reason never gets mentioned on the list of this tournament’s superstars, ran roughshod over the entire game.
“I said a long time ago that questioning Rodri was insulting intelligence, and time proved us right,” De La Fuente said. “He’s an ideal player for this football idea that we have.
“Rodri is the backbone in midfield that makes everything work. When it comes to interpreting defensive football, he uses very few touches with great passing and positioning. Defensively, he’s a very important player for our idea of football, so we are lucky to have this kind of player. That’s a hell of a player.”
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Spain owned the middle of the park, overran France in midfield and suffocated the life out of it. Olise, one of the most skilled players on the planet, was made to look like he didn’t belong. France’s midfield duo of Adrien Rabiot and Aurélien Tchouaméni had no chance, and the introduction of Manu Koné at halftime changed nothing.
The Spanish became the first team in history to keep six clean sheets at a World Cup, and according to Opta, held France to the lowest expected goals figure in a semifinal (0.3) since Brazil over Sweden in 1994.
Not to be outdone, Spain’s Aymeric Laporte and Pau Cubarsí, the latter just 19, probably ought to be discussed as the best center back duo in the tournament now. Its fullbacks, Marc Cucurella on the left and Pedro Porro on the right, dominated as well, with Porro finishing off a 1-2 sequence with Olmo for Spain’s second goal, which all but sealed the game after just 58 minutes.
“This team interprets, to perfection, every phase of the game,” De la Fuente said.
All of the conversation around Spain this tournament — around Yamal’s lack of goals and assists and, early on, about its halting start against Cape Verde — has missed the point entirely.
Jarring as that 0-0 draw was, maybe it should have been telling that Cape Verde required seven saves from its 40-year-old goalkeeper and barely touched the ball.
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Surprising as it is that Yamal has one goal and zero assists, the stats not only overlook that he’s played well — and he did again Tuesday, winning the penalty that Mikel Oyarzabal converted, scoring a goal that was flagged for offside and generally making Lucas Digne look silly — but they overlook the very premise of Spain.
“What is important here is the team,” De la Fuente said. “That is how I understand it. This is not me talking. That is how we all understand it.”
That team, right now, looks poised to win the World Cup on Sunday in East Rutherford.
“When you’re facing a team like us, we’re unbeatable,” De la Fuente said. “And that’s how we’re feeling right now.”
