FIFA World Cup 2026, Spain beat France in semis: Stats
What's the story
Spain booked their place in the final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after defeating France 2-0 in a semi-final clash on Tuesday. The match, played in Dallas, saw Mikel Oyarzabal score from a penalty kick and Pedro Porro netting a second goal. With this victory, Spain will face either England or Argentina in Sunday's final. On the other hand, France will play a third-place playoff tie against the losing team between Argentina and England.
Match analysis
How did the match pan out?
Despite having joint-top scorer Kylian Mbappe and top assist-maker Michael Olise, France's attack failed to deliver in this match.
Spain capitalized on their defensive errors, with Oyarzabal converting a penalty after Lucas Digne fouled Lamine Yamal while trying to clear the ball.
Porro doubled the lead later in the game after a brilliant exchange with Dani Olmo.
France were kept at bay and they didn't manage to break Spain's resilient defense.
Record extension
Spain extend their unbeaten run to 37 matches
Spain's victory over France extended their unbeaten run to 37 matches across all competitions, matching a record for European nations.
Spain equaled Italy's record for the longest unbeaten run in men's international history.
The match was a repeat of their Euro 2024 semi-final triumph and the UEFA Nations League semi-final in 2025.
Despite some late attempts from France, including a near miss by Ferran Torres and an offside goal by amal, Spain held on for the win.
Records
Oyarbazal and Porro attain these feats
Since the start of 2025, Oyarzabal has been involved in 24 goals in his 19 matches with Spain in all competitions (17 goals, 7 assists).
As per Opta, this is 14 more than any other La Roja player during this period (Mikel Merino, 10).
Porro is now the second defender to score two goals with Spain in the same edition of the World Cup after Fernando Hierro, who achieved it in 1998 and 2002.
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Yamal enters record books
Yamal (19 years and 1 day) became the third-youngest player recorded (since 1966) to win a penalty in a World Cup match, only surpassed by Michael Owen in 1998 (18 years and 198 days against Argentina) and Dmitri Sychev in 2002 (18 years and 222 days against Tunisia).
Information
Oyarbazal races to 30 goals in Spain colors
In 60 matches for Spain across all competitions, Oyarbazal has amassed a tally of 30 goals. In the ongoing 2026 World Cup, the star striker now owns 5 goals. It's also his overall tally at World Cups.
Records
Contrasting records for Spain and France
Spain are the first team to record six 1-0 shutouts in a single edition in the history of the World Cup.
France have now lost their first knockout match in the World Cup since the 2014 quarter-final against Germany (0-1), ending a streak of 11 such matches without defeat.
Didier Deschamps' France recorded 0.3 xG versus Spain. It's their lowest total in a World Cup match since Opta began analyzing the competition (1966).
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2nd World Cup final for Spain
Spain have reached their 2nd World Cup final. Before this, they had reached the final in 2010 and went on to beat the Netherlands 1-0. Andres Iniesta scored the only goal in the 116th minute at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa
Information
Here are the match stats
Spain created two big chances and scored from their 2 shots on target after making 10 attempts. France had 10 attempts with three shots being on target. France had 20 touches in the opposition box compared to Spain's 13. Spain had 51% ball possession.
Oyarbazal
Oyarbazal equals former Spain legends with this tally
As per Squawka, Oyarzabal (5) has equaled Emilio Butragueño and David Villa (5 each) in terms of most goals scored for Spain at a single World Cup tournament.
Most goals scored for Spain at a single World Cup tournament:
5 - Emilio Butragueño (1986)
5 - David Villa (2010)
5 - Mikel Oyarzabal (2026)