A special team beats brilliant individuals - how silky Spain flattened France
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- Spain beat France 2-0 in the World Cup semi-final with goals from Mikel Oyarzabal (penalty) and Pedro Porro, reaching their first final since 2010 and limiting France to three attempts on target.
- Luis de la Fuente — mocked as "Luis de la Who?" when appointed in December 2022 — has since led Spain to a Nations League title, Euro 2024 glory, and now the World Cup final, and received a congratulatory call from King Felipe VI after the match.
- Lamine Yamal has never lost a game for Spain across 12 combined World Cup and Euros starts — the best 100% win rate of any European player across the two competitions — and he, Oyarzabal, Rodri, Merino and Simon all won the 2015 Under-19 Euros together under de la Fuente.
- Spain equalled Italy's 37-match unbeaten record in international football, became the first World Cup team to keep six clean sheets at a single edition, and faced an xG of just 0.3 — the lowest in a semi-final since Brazil-Sweden 1994.
- Dani Olmo played as a roaming No. 10, dropping deep to create a 3-v-2 midfield advantage over France, and assisted Pedro Porro's goal; Roy Keane said France were "brilliant individuals not playing as a team" while Chris Sutton said Spain "scalped" and "flattened" Les Bleus.
Why it matters: Luis de la Fuente — mocked as "Luis de la Who?" when appointed in December 2022 — has now led Spain to a Nations League title, Euro 2024, and a World Cup final in under three years. On Sunday, his unbeaten-in-37 squad faces either Argentina (described by Spanish football expert Guillem Balague as defensively suspect) or England (whose tactical identity Balague called unclear).
