It will be hard to find anyone who went into Tuesday’s World Cup semi-final between France and Spain in Dallas expecting a dominant win from the Spanish. After all, France were the favorites and had been the best team in the tournament by far, while La Roja were struggling to find their best version and did not look ready for the biggest stage.
But the beauty of this sport that we all love is that 90 minutes of football have to be played, expectations and predictions go out the window, and 22 players
have to perform at the highest level in the biggest moment. And on Tuesday, three players performed at a higher level than everybody else: Rodri, Fabián Ruiz, and Dani Olmo.
Winning the Ballon d’Or while recovering from a major knee injury that didn’t allow him to show why he was voted as the world’s best player hurt the perception of Rodri for a while, but his performance on Tuesday should erase any doubt about who the world’s midfield boss is. The captain was extraordinary, dictating the pace of the game, destroying counter-attacks at the source, and dominating every aspect of Spain’s possession game.
Fabián Ruiz won the starter job over Pedri in the last round against Belgium and has repaid his coach’s faith. Pedri is undoubtedly one of the best on the planet but his tournament hasn’t been good, and Fabián added a level of energy and physical dominance that Pedri simply couldn’t contribute.
Ruiz, like Rodri, was a dominant presence in the middle of the park and controlled the tempo while also ruining virtually all promising French attacks with perfectly timed interceptions and great defensive positioning.
And Dani Olmo, who is eternally underrated because he’s injured too often to play at a consistent level for extended periods, showed why he’s one of the most technically gifted and intelligent players in the world.
Every touch in the final third had meaning and purpose behind them, his ability to read spaces and use his expert touch to move away from all the French bodies around him was beautiful to watch, and his assist for Pedro Porro’s goal in the second half was exquisite.
Every Spain player on the pitch played their part and helped destroy a helpless France team, but the three midfielders were without a doubt the biggest reason why La Roja produced one of the finest World Cup semi-final performances in recent history.
They just have to do it one more time with the title on the line on Sunday.
Didier Deschamps leaves as both a legend and an underachiever
There will always be a feeling that France should have done more in Didier Deschamps’ decade-plus tenure as coach. He won a World Cup, reached the final of another and his teams were always in the mix for major trophies, but he was never able to get the absolute best out of the incredible talent at his disposal.
Deschamps will never quite get the credit for putting together very solid teams that defended well and allowed the amazing attacking talents to shine, but his teams were always too reactive, too tactically rigid, and never willing to dictate terms.
He was a calm influence and had the respect of a dressing room filled with huge egos, and his ability to bring exceptional talents together to form a team should never go unnoticed. Two things can be true: Deschamps is a coaching legend of French football, but he also achieved less than he should.
Zinedine Zidane is widely expected to be France’s next coach, with another very exciting young generation ready to take center stage along with the established superstars.
Les Bleus are already favorites for the 2030 World Cup, and Zizou will be tasked with not only winning matches and contending for tournaments, but also creating the kind of attacking identity that Spain clearly have and Deschamps could never implement.
