France reach World Cup semi-finals, set up showdown with Spain

France beat Morocco 2-0 at Boston Stadium on 9 July 2026, with Kylian Mbappé scoring in the 60th minute and Ousmane Dembélé adding a second six minutes later to send Didier Deschamps’s side into a third successive World Cup semi-final unbeaten. The reward was a clash with Spain at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, a meeting billed as a heavyweight rematch of Spain’s 2-1 win over France in the UEFA EURO 2024 semi-finals and Spain’s 5-3 extra-time victory in the 2025 UEFA Nations League semi-finals.

France’s route to the last four was not built on caution. FIFA said Spain’s earlier wins pushed Deschamps to reshape the side around a more attack-minded 4-2-3-1, with younger players such as Michael Olise, Désiré Doué and Manu Koné folded into the next cycle. That shift was visible in the tournament numbers: France had scored 13 goals in five World Cup matches before the semi-final, Mbappé had accounted for eight of them, and Olise led the team with six assists.

The quarter-final against Morocco showed how quickly France could turn control into damage. Mbappé overcame a first-half penalty miss and still finished as the decisive figure, while Dembélé’s goal in the 66th minute closed the game down before Morocco could recover. The sequence underlined a clear pattern in France’s attack, with Mbappé repeatedly functioning as the finisher and Olise supplying the chance creation that fed him.

That formula gave France a sharp edge heading into Spain. FOX Sports described both countries as tournament favourites, and France entered the semi-final with a chance to reach a third straight World Cup final and, with one more win, become only the second team to record seven outright World Cup victories after Brazil in 2002. The matchup also carried the added weight of a duel between Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, a contest built as much around France’s new attacking structure as around the individual talent that has powered it.