Spain beats France 2-0 to reach first World Cup final since 2010

Spain did not sneak into the World Cup final. It beat France 2-0 at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, July 14, then walked off with the kind of result that turns a contender into a standard-bearer. Luis de la Fuente framed it that way after the match, saying that reaching the final was a luxury and that France had faced the best team in the world.

Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro supplied the goals, and Spain’s control of the semifinal left Kylian Mbappé without a way through. The result kept Spain unbeaten in the tournament and sent it to its first World Cup final since 2010, a span that has defined the national team’s search for another title. The performance also underlined the identity de la Fuente has built around a side that can handle pressure without surrendering its shape.

That matters because France arrived with the reputation Spain wanted to test itself against. De la Fuente’s team did more than absorb that challenge. It managed the game, stayed organized in the decisive moments and turned a high-stakes semifinal into proof that Spain can still impose itself on the biggest stage. The coaching decisions carried as much weight as the finishing, with Spain adjusting cleanly to the demands of a match that could have exposed any hesitation.

The historical backdrop gives the win even more force. Spain’s only previous World Cup final came on July 11, 2010, in Johannesburg, when it beat the Netherlands 1-0 in extra time to win its lone world title. Fifteen years later, the same country is back in the final after a clean semifinal against one of the sport’s heavyweight sides.

De la Fuente’s run now stretches a cycle that has kept Spain among the tournament’s deepest teams, and this latest win adds legitimacy to a squad already carrying the pressure of expectation. With Oyarzabal and Porro delivering in Arlington and Mbappé largely neutralized, Spain advanced not as an underdog clinging to momentum, but as a team that beat the side many regard as the tournament standard.