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Spain sparkles to shock France 2-0 and advance to the World Cup final

NPR | By Russell Lewis
Published July 14, 2026 at 4:59 PM EDT
Spain's Pedro Porro celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the World Cup semifinal against France on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.
Paul Ellis
/
AFP via Getty Images
Spain's Pedro Porro celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the World Cup semifinal against France on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.

Spain is going back to the World Cup final, after defeating France 2-0 in a dominant semifinal performance.

It was a tough end for France, which had entered this tournament as a favorite, after winning the 2018 World Cup and losing to Argentina in the 2022 final. But France had no match for Spain, which has only allowed one goal this World Cup — and has not been beaten in two years (a 37-game streak: 28W - 9D - 0L).

In fact, neither team had trailed in this World Cup until a Spanish penalty kick in the 21st minute put them up 1-0. Spain got another goal in the 58th minute to seal the victory. and managed to stifle the stellar French attacking trio of Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise. Mbappé had entered the game as the tournament leader in the Golden Boot race (8 goals and 3 assists, just ahead of Argentina's Lionel Messi with 8 goals and 2 assists).

Spain, the reigning European champion and 2010 World Cup winner, enters Sunday's final on a high note and will play the winner of Wednesday's semifinal between Argentina and England.

France will have one more game to play, the third-place match against the losing team of the other semifinal on Saturday.

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Russell Lewis
As NPR's Southern Bureau chief, Russell Lewis covers issues and people of the Southeast for NPR — from Florida to Virginia to Texas, including West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. His work brings context and dimension to issues ranging from immigration, transportation, and oil and gas drilling for NPR listeners across the nation and around the world.
See stories by Russell Lewis

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