How to explain it. How to explain that Spain, so calm, so serene, brushing a speck of dust off the lapel of the jacket, whistling, almost with a toothpick in the mouth, drove France crazy, the all-powerful France, the unreachable France, the majestic France, and denatured it, dissolved it, disintegrated it, played with it like a kitten with a ball of yarn, distracted it so it would look at the spoon and not the vegetables, and ended up playing four corners with it, showing the ball and taking it away, showing it and taking it away, all amid the cheers of an astonished audience, stunned to see how Spain, what a team!, reduced to nothing, absolutely nothing, the favorite, the unreachable, the all-powerful France. [Narration and statistics (0-2)]
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Spain will play the World Cup final, the second in its history, after a wonderful lesson in collective football, an already unforgettable day in the history of Spanish football, the day when Luis de la Fuente‘s team, a masterpiece, got rid of the great favorite while chewing gum and earned its well-deserved ticket to fight for its second World Cup, almost nothing, 16 years later. Spain is a great team. Maybe without as many stars as others (or maybe yes, who knows), but with a strength, that of the group, that makes it unstoppable. The image of superiority over France, no matter what happens in this World Cup, will go down in history.
It is hard to imagine a World Cup semifinal without your heart in your mouth, with two wonderful teams, each in their own style, seeking the last step of the tournament. As soon as the ball started rolling, the entire Dallas stadium held its breath at every control, every pass, every attempt at this or that. The level of the competition and the names of the contenders promised a top-level match, and so it was. De la Fuente fielded the same 11 as against Belgium. Fabián kept his place instead of Pedri and doubts were dispelled on the right flank in favor of Pedro Porro. One might have thought of Llorente to contain Barcola, the newcomer, along with Tchouaméni, from Deschamps, but no, the same players as against Belgium played.
Olmo’s clinic
France appeared as the beauty of the tournament, indisputably the best team until yesterday, the brightest, with a delirious offensive potential, and right at the start Baena lost two balls in five minutes that shot the crowd’s adrenaline, already running wild for the whole session. Spain worked hard not to lose the ball, but little by little it became more comfortable and dared to jump over the rival’s lines with passes between the lines. No one better for that than Dani Olmo, author of a clinic on how, with one control, to create an advantage and face the goal.
The team didn’t create much, but it wasn’t in trouble, partly also because the eleven came out aware of the need to make a huge defensive balance whenever there was a loss, which was few. Either pressing the ball holder well or running back like animals, France was unable throughout the match to deploy its intimidating speed or its fascinating quality, for example, in the boots of Olise. Its four forwards, Mbappé, Olise, Dembélé and Barcola spent most of the time chasing the ball, and of course, that tires and frustrates.
The match was going like that, neither for you nor for me, when Digne made a mistake trying to control a ball. He did it badly with his head and, when trying to clear, Lamine got between his leg and the ball and took a kick. Oyarzabal, without unnecessary runs, shot hard and to one side, normal, as he is. Spain, ahead on the scoreboard, doubled down, and in the 37th minute a great play between Lamine and Olmo, Olmo and Lamine, was about to be the second. Lacroix, who had come on for the injured Saliba, saved Fabián‘s shot. By the way, about Lamine, it’s worth noting the penalty play, which is no small thing, but it was the match in which the team looked for him the least. France, perhaps expecting that, failed to see that their rival mainly attacked from the other side.
After the break, Deschamps brought on Koné for Rabiot, who was booked. Spain returned to the field knowing that if it kept a clean sheet it would play the final, but not content with that, it kept playing, and playing, and playing, and got better and better, and better, and a one-two on the right flank with Olmo, by far the best along with Rodri, left Pedro Porro alone with Maignan. He finished like any top-level center forward would. Soon after came another goal, this one disallowed for Lamine by a hair. France, frustrated, tried to get back into the match as best it could. The good thing for them is that they don’t need much to come back. De la Fuente brought on Ferran Torres for a very tired Oyarzabal, the first substitution after France had made all theirs, even taking off Olise to try Cherki. Pedri and Mikel Merino came on to keep the ball and not give it back to France. They didn’t give it back. They showed it to them, but didn’t give it to them.
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