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Kylian Mbappe and France have not trailed in this year’s World Cup. Neither is Spain, who are interested in Lamine Yamal and a replacement for goalscorer Mikel Merino.
Only one team can reach the final.
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France and Spain, both at the 17th World Cup, have met only once on the biggest stage of football. They play Tuesday’s home game against the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in the first two power play games.
Entering the tournament as the top ranked team in FIFA, France have outscored their opponents 14-2. Mbappe, the 2022 Golden Boot winner, has eight goals to tie Lionel Messi for the top goalscorer this term, and is one behind the 21-year-old Argentina captain at the World Cup.
“We’re confident, yes, that’s what we’ve done so far, and we have to do it,” said French midfielder Adrien Rabiot. “But it is always this humility that we have been known for since the beginning of the competition.”
Mbappe, 27, has 20 goals in his 20 World Cup appearances, including a winner in 2018 against Croatia, as he joined Pele as the only young player to score in a World Cup final. Coach Didier Deschamps said Mbappe was fine after coming off in the 77th minute of Les Bleus’ quarterfinal win over Morocco after scoring.
Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, was already part of Spain’s two-match winning streak against France. He was just shy of 17 when he scored a 2-1 win in the 2024 European Championship, and Spain won 5-4 in last year’s Nations League.
“I believe if France has to fear anyone, it has to be us, in my opinion,” Yamal said after winning the quarterfinals in Belgium. “We’re the ones who knocked them down before.”
The youngster has just one goal from 10 shots on target in this World Cup, still nursing a left-foot problem. He missed the final weeks of the season for Spanish team Barcelona.
“It’s the most important game I play,” Yamal said before the game, adding that his best birthday present would be a win and a trip to the finals. “We’re all very happy, especially me.”
French defender Jules Kounde also plays for Barcelona, for which he knows Yamal well and did not feel insulted by his previous comments.
“He always does with (Barcelona) He believes a lot in his good qualities, in the teams of the team he plays for,” said Kounde in a translation. “An extra boost for him and that’s it.”
Spain have outscored their opponents 10-1 since their dramatic one-goal draw with Cape Verde to open group play, but La Roja have scored late goals from Merino as a late substitute in the last two games. And goalkeeper Unai Simon set a World Cup record of 650 minutes without conceding a goal until Belgium scored in the 41st minute of their quarterfinal match.
“I think that from the first game until today, the team needed courage; we have not seen each other for a long time,” said Spanish player Alex Baena, adding that with more games and practice “the team has been better.”
Merino scored in the 88th minute of a 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday. This came after an Arsenal player scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time as Portugal won 1-0 in the round of 16 at the same stadium where Spain’s semifinal match will be played.
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This is the first World Cup since 1990 where all four players are former champions.
Messi and defender Argentina, who beat France to the title in 2022, will play England in the other semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta.
The tournament will take place on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the river from New York. The third game will be played on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
In their only World Cup meeting, France beat Spain 3-1 in the last 16 match at the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Both teams have won the World Cup since then – Spain won their only title in 2010 and France won their second in 2018.
France, who will play on the Bastille Day national holiday, are looking to join five-time champions Brazil and four-time winners Germany as the only teams to win three consecutive World Cup finals. Brazil did it in 1994, 1998 and 2002 – winning two and losing to hosts France midway through the tournament.
Germany’s 1990 title came after finishing as runners-up in the previous two World Cups – both playing as West Germany at the time.
Argentina beat France in the 2022 shootout after a 3-3 draw.
This is France’s seventh appearance in the semifinals, and the fifth in the last eight World Cups. The only other semi-finals in Spain were in 1950 and then in 2010 on the way to the title.
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Messi scored three goals in two matches for Argentina, the first on June 22 when, after missing the goal, he broke the World Cup record with his first goal in a 2–0 win over Austria. He added another goal as a late substitute in the final against Jordan on June 27.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old Portuguese star, ended his sixth and final World Cup in a 1-0 loss to Spain on July 6.
