At the AT&T Stadium in Dallas on Tuesday night, France were on the pitch — but for most of the match they were only chasing the ball, while it was Spain who actually played the football. Mbappe was on the field, but the spotlight was stolen by Yamal, Oyarzabal, Rodri and Fabian. With a superb 2-0 win, Spain reached the World Cup final, while France, one of the tournament’s paper favourites, headed for the flight home.
Before kickoff, the numbers favoured France: Mbappe’s explosiveness, Ousmane Dembele’s pace, Michael Olise’s creativity and Bradley Barcola’s dribbling were coach Didier Deschamps’ biggest assets, and that attack had carried them to the semifinals. But football is a game of tactics as well as stars, and on that tactical chessboard Spain coach Luis de la Fuente checkmated France from the start. From the first whistle Spain seemed to declare that the ball, and the rhythm, were theirs. Whenever a France player got the ball, a wave of red shirts closed in from all sides — a near-perfect application of the modern game’s positional press and five-second counter-press rarely seen at this World Cup. Mbappe hardly got the ball in space, Dembele found no clean one-on-ones, Olise was swarmed by two Spaniards each time he received, and Barcola’s runs were halted before they began.
Spain landed the first blow with a penalty in the 18th minute. Lamine Yamal cut into the box from the right and was caught from behind by Lucas Digne; referee Ivan Barton did not take long to point to the spot. Mikel Oyarzabal stepped up, and although France goalkeeper Mike Maignan dived the right way, Oyarzabal’s right-footed shot flew into the top corner for 1-0. Rather than sitting back after the goal, Spain grew bolder, pushing higher and moving the ball faster, with Rodri conducting from midfield, Fabian Ruiz weaving the rhythm and Dani Olmo dragging France’s midfield out of shape. Yamal, marking his 19th birthday, showed in a few seconds that age is written on the calendar, not on the pitch. Late in the first half Mbappe broke onto a Rabiot through ball, but Unai Simon rushed well off his line to snuff out the chance.
France pushed desperately to get back into the match in the second half, but the further they came forward, the more space opened up for Spain — and that is where the final blow came. In the 67th minute Spain won the ball in midfield and attacked in a flash: from Rodri’s precise pass, Olmo released Pedro Porro on the left, and Porro took a touch, beat his defender and sent a low cross into the France net for 2-0. For France, the match was effectively over there. Over the last 20 minutes their bodies were on the pitch but their minds seemed already on the plane; the attack billed as the most dangerous at this World Cup looked to have lost its form all at once — in truth, Spain simply never let them play.
The heroes of the win were not only the scorers, but a plan, a philosophy and an organised team. Spain did not just win a match: they won the midfield, the tactical battle and the mental contest. Having reached the final, they now have just one step left, while France leave Dallas with a hard lesson — that big names alone are not enough at a World Cup. Spain now await the winner of Argentina and England in the final on July 19.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report