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"Today we faced one of the best national teams in the world," Luis de la Fuente beamed after going head-to-head with France in the opening 2026 World Cup semifinal, "but standing before them was the best team in the world."
Spain's overwhelming self-belief has been a defining thread of this summer. While the overwhelming majority of neutral observers had fallen over themselves to praise the attacking flair of France throughout the first six rounds of World Cup action, the reigning European champion has quietly and composedly assured anyone willing to listen that this trophy is theirs to claim.
"We feel capable of defeating any team," De la Fuente declared—and that was before his squad delivered their most commanding performance of the entire tournament.
Spain's Quiet Run to Final Four
Spain's first six matches had been a study in efficiency rather than spectacle. This is a side that has reduced the volatility of soccer to a cold mathematical equation: deny the opposition the ball, and they cannot score.
Even when Belgium's Charles De Ketelaere brought an end to Unai Simón's streak of 649 consecutive World Cup minutes without conceding in the round of 16, there was no alarm. There was no desperate barrage of crosses into the box. Aymeric Laporte did not appoint himself an impromptu center forward. No, that role belongs to Mikel Merino.
Arsenal's not-so-secret midfield weapon spent a combined 11 minutes of normal time and stoppage time on the pitch against Portugal and Belgium. He scored the decisive goal in both matches. "I look over my shoulder and see Mikel Merino and think: 'I couldn't be more relaxed,'" De la Fuente chuckled with good reason.
Merino did have one worry of his own. "I don't know how I'll explain it to [my son]," the new father of a two-month-old admitted, "luckily there's YouTube and the internet and I'll be able to show it to him, because putting it into words will be tough." Sometimes words are enough.
So without dazzling the competition, Spain found itself in the final four against a France side that had become the darling of neutral fans. Surely there could only be one outcome? To know the answer in advance, you simply needed to ask De la Fuente.
La Roja Gives France the Blues in Semifinal Masterclass
First Blood to Spain in Cagey Opening
In a contest between two sides boasting the cohesion and quality more typical of club football, it was inevitable that the early exchanges would unfold like a high-stakes Champions League knockout tie. Spain naturally took hold of possession, while France demonstrated its danger on the counter.
There was one explosive burst forward in the 15th minute, spearheaded by Ousmane Dembélé. It required the intervention of several white shirts to halt Kylian Mbappé before the move was eventually extinguished, but the menace was evident. It didn't persist.
Confronted with the challenge of tracking the reigning Ballon d'Or holder (Dembélé) and one of the frontrunners for this year's award (Michael Olise), Marc Cucurella adopted a counterintuitive defensive strategy: go on the attack.
The new Real Madrid fullback charged relentlessly down the left flank, feet hammering the turf, arms pumping through the air, hair with a mind of its own. It was from one such run that Cucurella whipped a ball to the far post which his counterpart, Lucas Digne, badly mishandled. The surprise Paris Saint-Germain target was too preoccupied attempting to clear his lines to notice the unmistakable presence of Lamine Yamal arriving on the scene. The teenage sensation used his body to shield Digne from the ball and win his side the crucial penalty, drawing a knowing nod of respect from Mbappé in the process.
Mikel Oyarzabal continued his outstanding record from the spot—the Real Sociedad captain has missed just one of his last 19 penalties—to tilt the match firmly in Spain's favor.
France's Soloists Have Their Instruments Taken Away
In this clash between control and chaos, Spain's most striking display of dominance came between its two goals. During that 36-minute stretch spanning either side of halftime, De la Fuente's side restricted this free-flowing France outfit to just a single shot, which sailed wide.
It wasn't that Spain racked up the kind of possession figures Argentina might enjoy against England—La Roja simply refused to allow Les Bleus to receive the ball in any dangerous areas.
To study France's pass map during this mesmerizing phase of play (see below, as provided by Opta) is to witness a game played entirely on Spain's terms. Not only is there no hint of a meaningful touch inside Simón's penalty area, but Mbappé and company can't even advance toward the edge of the box. It is the soccer equivalent of an older sibling keeping a younger one at arm's length with nothing more than a hand pressed to their forehead.
Spain, however, had no trouble cutting through France's defensive lines at will.
Spain's Second Goal Sums Up the Team's Brilliance
No one controls like Spain do. pic.twitter.com/BfeQkfH642
Within the span of two minutes, Spain strung together 18 passes among eight different players, moving the ball from their own penalty area all the way into the back of France's net.
While the elegant beauty of this sequence was enough to leave onlookers breathless—particularly the delicate layoff from Dani Olmo to Pedro Porro, as gentle as a whisper—the intensity with which Spain won the ball back (twice) was equally vital.
France found no success pressing high against Spain—if anything, that was precisely what De la Fuente had hoped for. As Mbappé pointedly noted after the final whistle, that approach was always going to be a gamble with only two midfielders. Didier Deschamps would rue the absence of Adrien Rabiot, one of those midfielders, who was substituted at halftime after collecting an early yellow card.
Even with AC Milan's unpredictable talent on the pitch, France would have struggled to contain Spain's dizzying sequence of passes. This numerical disadvantage was laid bare midway through the build-up to the second goal, as Olmo—Spain's third midfielder—received the ball in a vast expanse of open space after peeling away from France's central pair.
"It is wonderful to watch them play," De la Fuente gushed at the final whistle, more enraptured spectator than head coach. "Today was a spectacle. What looks difficult, this team makes appear effortless." There is little question that stopping Spain will be an extraordinarily tall order.