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Close your eyes and imagine Spain in a World Cup final. You see Andrés Iniesta entering the box in Johannesburg like a ghost. You see Xavi directing, David Villa finishing, Sergio Ramos flying down the right, Iker Casillas saving Spain’s life against Arjen Robben. That team won everything from 2008 to 2012 and changed the way the sport views itself.
It was the team with the most recognizable style: Tiki-Taka.
This Spain is not that Spain. And after Tuesday at Dallas Stadium, it doesn’t have to be that way. Luis de la Fuente’s team dismantled France, 2-0, in the semifinal, and “dismantle” is being kind to France.
A penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal, won by Lamine Yamal, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. Pedro Porro, right back, played a give-and-take with Dani Olmo and scored the second in the 58th minute. Kylian Mbappé and the most feared attack of the tournament were limited to almost nothing. It was asphyxiation, administered in the Spanish way.
Here’s the number that should terrify Argentina or England on Sunday: 1. That’s how many goals Spain have conceded in six games. Italy reached the 2006 final with the same number (conceded, an own goal by Cristian Zaccardo against the United States) and walked away with the trophy.
(Photo by Hannah Peters – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Championship teams are usually built on exactly this basis, and no one realized that Spain was building it because everyone was too busy waiting for the fireworks at the other end.
Because let’s be honest about what we all expected: we thought Lamine Yamal would be one of the big stars of this tournament. Instead, the 19-year-old only has one goal in seven games, perhaps the lingering remnants of the injury he suffered during the La Liga season preventing him from achieving his best.
Read that again.
Spain is in a World Cup final and the only goal from its biggest star came back in the group stage. If you had offered that scenario in May, they would have looked at you like you had three heads. There is still no real Yamal signature moment, as it’s doubtful we’ll be excited about that goal against Saudi Arabia in 20 years. He has been dangerous, he won the penalty on Tuesday, he had a shot disallowed for offside.
But the eruption has not come. Even more impressive is that Spain has not needed it.
That’s the point. This team hasn’t even played their best football yet and is one win away from the trophy.
One of the stars has been Rodri, who controlled France’s game from start to finish and has been the reliable lord of the tournament. The captain doesn’t make highlight reels. It doesn’t go viral on TikTok. Does not freeze the tips. What Rodri does is 90 minutes of making the game look easy while the opponent slowly runs out of ideas.
And the defense deserves flowers. Pau Cubarsí, still a teenager who could not legally celebrate these victories here in the United States with a beer, treated the French front line as a training exercise. Unai Simón has shown himself to be unbeatable. Marc Cucurella seemed unfazed by the generational opponents rushing toward him.
The full-backs attacked that legendary French counter-attack all night and never once seemed concerned about the space behind them. Pedro Porro’s goal was the reward. That requires arrogance or total structural confidence. With this Spain, it is the latter.
Remember where this program was. From 2014 onwards, the World Cup became a house of horrors: a group stage elimination as defending champions, then consecutive eliminations in the round of 16 on penalties, the last against Morocco in 2022. A generation of Spanish teams passed the ball beautifully and went home early.
Euro 2024 broke the spell. He can bury him on Sunday.
Spain’s 2010 team remains the standard. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
The golden generation had more individual talent. No rational soul disputes it. But that team needed more time to win their final. He has been so efficient, so ruthless at the back, that his best attacking player has taken a back seat when it comes to scoring, and that barely matters.
Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Ramos, Casillas. Those names built a legacy. They created an international dynasty. On Sunday, for the final, the new kids on the block will have the opportunity to start their own career.
And if Yamal finally chooses that setting for his big moment, this story will write his perfect ending.
