Lamine and company sweep Mbappé's France

BarcelonaA goal from Oyarzabal, a penalty, and another from Pedro Porro, allowed the Spanish team to defeat France and reach the World Cup final. For the second time in its history, La Roja will play the title match, and will do so after demonstrating, like in 2010, that a great generation of footballers is not enough, but that the key to success is for all the stars to play for the team. A very young generation of fearless players who are not afraid of anything, not even what, on paper, was the deadliest attack of all. It turns out that France was unable to score and it is Spain who reaches the title match with immaculate defensive statistics: they have only conceded one goal in the entire competition.

It cannot be said that Spain's approach surprised anyone, because De la Fuente's bet has remained intact since the start of the tournament. Wanting to have possession, pressing high and relying on the pivot pair to build attacking plays. A duo where, for the second consecutive match, Pedri was not there from the start. The Barcelona player, very imprecise in the first duels of the competition, gave way to Fabián, who met expectations: secure with the ball and with offensive projection. The metronome of La Roja was Rodri, who was everywhere, as if he had multiplied. He was not only in charge of initiating plays, but also of helping with great offensive efforts that aimed to prevent France's fearsome forwards from receiving the ball near the box.

It is evident that Lamine Yamal has not arrived at 100% for the World Cup. Without being at his best, his cuts could have immobilized a defense like Saudi Arabia's, but it was not so easy with the experienced footballers of France. His teammates were well aware of this and did not systematically pass him the ball for him to invent one of his plays. Only in the second half, with a two-goal lead and the French team pushed forward in attack, did Lamine receive the ball more often to face a Lucas Digne who, without help, was left completely exposed.

Lamine Yamal's craftiness, key in the penalty

But Lamine should not only be measured by his plastic actions. If there's one thing the Rocafonda winger has, it's cunning, and that cunning was key to forcing the penalty that led to the game's first goal. After a poor header from Digne, Lamine advanced to go for the ball, and when he saw the French full-back load his leg to clear it, he moved his body to receive the impact of the boot. A textbook penalty that Digne, aware he had messed up, didn't even dare to protest, and which Oyarzabal converted with a very powerful shot, at mid-height, to Maignan's left.

It was a new scenario. The all-powerful France, who with this had only conceded their third goal of the entire World Cup, had not yet trailed in any match. They were minutes of doubt for Deschamps and his players, who were urgently looking for Mbappé as an attacking reference. The forward, who was caught offside on many occasions, ran into the solid, well-coordinated, and attentive defense of Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte, the best center-back pairing in the tournament.

Collective play was key for Spain to reach the final. But a match like this is not won by everyone just pulling together. In attack, Dani Olmo's contribution was decisive. Few players like him move so well in tight spaces. He didn't shy away from challenges and distributed the ball well with a single touch, as in Spain's second goal, where he spotted Pedro Porro's run and made a first-time assist that left him alone in front of Maignan. Porro, with a shot at the near post, scored a goal that would end up being decisive.

France was completely disconnected. They had tried to organize themselves in defense to quickly counter-attack. Deschamps' usual approach. But they had neither managed to keep a clean sheet nor created clear scoring opportunities. The first really dangerous shot was from Mbappé in the 66th minute, with a shot from the edge of the box that Cucurella deflected with his foot. The French coach was forced to substitute Saliba, who got injured half an hour into the game, and brought on Cherki and Doué to strengthen his team's attack. But it wasn't just a matter of solidity at the back and firepower up front. It was also about building plays, and the French distribution was very poor in this aspect of the game. They ended up relying on crosses and long balls into the box that found no one. Mbappé finished the match beside himself, looking for a goal on his own.

Political but effective changes by De la Fuente

The physical exertion was very high, but De la Fuente did not move the bench until the last quarter of an hour. He kept Lamine on the field, brought in Pedri to rest Fabián, and gave Ferran Torres and Nico Williams confidence to maintain attacking threats and prevent France from cornering the Spanish team in the final stretch. Some changes seemed more political than footballing, but they worked out well for the coach. Once again.