Spain reached their first FIFA World Cup final in 16 years after putting on a football masterclass to convincingly beat France 2-0 at the Dallas Stadium.
A penalty by Mikel Oyarzabal and a second half strike by Pedro Porro was enough for the European champions to dismantle the French and now await the winners of England or Argentina in Sunday’s showpiece game.
Spain took control of the semifinal at an early stage and never let France’s potent attacking force have any meaningful attempts to get back into the contest.
Oyarzabal opened the scoring from the penalty spot midway through the first half after a lapse from left-back Lucas Digne resulted in him giving away a foul on Lamine Yamal.
The Real Sociedad forward buried his spot-kick with precision, beating France goalkeeper Mike Maignan with a thumping strike high to his left.
With Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola all having being nullified in the first half, France were expected to come out firing after the halftime break.
The Spanish midfield were excellent though, led by captain Rodri and flanked by Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo and they kept calm and composed when the teams came back after interval.
Spain doubled their advantage just before the hour mark when Tottenham Hotspur right-back Porro played a neat one-two with Olmo before staying finishing past Maignan and the near-post to spark wild celebrations.
France had just more than 30 minutes to stay in contention and head coach Didier Deschamps threw on all his attackers from the bench, including Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki.
Spain though remained composed and full of class to the end to see out the contest and prevent France from reaching a third consecutive World Cup final.
France now have to content with a 3rd/4th place play-off game on Saturday, which will also be the final game in charge for Deschamps after 14 years in charge.
