France and Spain meet in the World Cup semi-final
The hosts discuss the highly anticipated FIFA World Cup semi-final clash between France and Spain, which will take place today in Dallas. Sports and entertainment journalist Mike Gunzelman analyzes the intense confrontation and highlights Spain’s strong defense against Kylian Mbappé. He also reflects on the enormous success of the tournament and the growing love for soccer in the United States.
It’s been a couple of days without football and it felt a bit strange. I wonder how I will feel when this World Cup is completed in a few days. We only have four games left (including today’s matchup). It has been a very attractive and entertaining World Cup so far, and I think FIFA must be very happy to have managed to get the remaining four teams into the Final Four. Let’s see how we should play the first semi-final match of the 2026 World Cup.
There have been at least two players who have said that France is the team to beat or that they will win it all. As someone with a French ticket, I hope this comes to fruition. Getting to the final game will be quite a challenge. I don’t know much about football, but I can tell you that after watching these matches, it seems like one small mistake can change the entire game. France has been lucky not to have made many mistakes so far. They have a strong defense, three great offensive players and much more, so perhaps their team will be good at covering up any mistakes that are made.
Kylian Mbappé of France celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium on July 9, 2026 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images)
In their World Cup matches, France has barely had to break a sweat. Their worst game was against Paraguay, when they still won 1-0. In their most recent match, they defeated Morocco 2-0. Throughout this tournament they have not allowed more than one goal in any game and have outscored their rival 16-2. Their leader, Kylian Mbappé, and his counterpart, Ousmane Dembélé, combined to score 13 of those goals. The third person in the trio, Michael Olise, also has five assists.
HOW TO WATCH FRANCE AGAINST SPAIN: LIVE STREAM THE 2026 FIFA WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
It will be a difficult match for Spain to win, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t pressure on France. Spain is one of the best teams in the world and beat France last year in the UEFA Nations League semi-finals. That match saw Spain win 5-4. Spain opened its World Cup with a draw against Cape Verde. At the time, it seemed like Spain was performing poorly, but the Cape Verde team proved to be very talented and a difficult matchup. To get out of the group stage, they easily beat Saudi Arabia and then Uruguay in a close duel.
France’s Kylian Mbappé and Spain’s Lamine Yamal will meet in the World Cup semi-finals in Dallas to determine which country will have the chance to lift the World Cup trophy on July 19. (GETTY)
Once they reached the knockout round, things got a little more difficult. They beat Austria 3-0, but struggled to beat Portugal and won 1-0. Then against Belgium, that match was a hard-fought 2-1 win. They never trailed in that game, but both teams scored in the first half. A very late Spanish goal gave them a lead they would never lose. It was more of a mistake by Belgium than anything else that led to this Spain goal. Mistakes cost people games in all sports.
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Many people are considering this as the championship matchup. I guess they don’t have such strong feelings towards Argentina or England. Maybe that’s true, but if you see two teams outplaying each other before facing a different opponent, that can hurt them for the next game. The advantage that either team has is that they will have extra rest before the final.
French striker Ousmane Dembélé celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the quarterfinal match of the 2026 World Cup soccer tournament between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium in Foxborough on July 9, 2026. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
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I think Spain has been a little luckier than France, but it also has nothing to lose. An interesting fact is that Spain is undefeated in regulation time in its last 36 international competitions. Looks like they’re going to lose, right? As I already mentioned, I already have a ticket to France to win the World Cup, if I didn’t have it, I would still take it here. However, here I stick with more than 2.5 goals. I think the final will be France 2-1 and I think they win in 90 minutes.
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