France vs Spain
Competition/Round: 2026 World Cup, Semi-Final 1
Spain Outs & Doubts: None
France Outs & Doubts: None
Date/Time: Tuesday, July 14, 2026, 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 12.30am IST (India, Wednesday)
Venue: AT&T Stadium, Dallas, United States
Referee: Iván Barton (SLV)
How to watch on TV: FOX (USA), ITV1 (UK), United8 Sports 1 (India), SuperSport (Nigeria), TVE La 1 (Spain), others
How to watch online: FuboTV (USA), ITVX (UK), ZEE5 (India), DAZN (Spain), others
Following
a hard-fought victory over Belgium in last Friday’s quarter-final, Spain return to action for a gigantic World Cup semi-final clash against France at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday afternoon.
This is the game everyone wanted to see at this stage, as the two best national sides in the world will meet to complete a trilogy of must-see battles. Spain won the first two, both also at the semi-final stage, in the 2024 EURO and the 2025 Nations League, and France come into this one looking for revenge as they seek a third straight World Cup Final appearance.
Les Bleus were the big pre-tournament favorites along with Spain and have looked like it so far, dominating all six of their matches so far and cruising through the knockout rounds with scary ease. Even the physical and sometimes dirty matchup with Paraguay was never really in doubt, and the comfortable victory over Morocco in the quarter-final was the perfect warm-up for this one.
Spain, on the other hand, haven’t lived up to pre-tournament expectations and have not performed anywhere near their best level despite winning five of their six games and conceding just one goal in the entire World Cup so far. The attack hasn’t clicked and the list of opponents faced isn’t exactly impressive, so La Roja come into the semis yet to face a major challenge and still have not looked like true contenders.
France have done their job and dominated their competition, but it’s also fair to say they have not met an opponent of Spain’s caliber. So this is in essence the toughest test for both sides so far, and the two previous meetings prove that this will be a high-level battle of two incredibly talented teams.
The terrifying French attacking trio of Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembélé has delivered at the highest level in this tournament, and they will be France’s biggest hope of passing their biggest test. Spain’s (and Barcelona’s) main stars have not been brilliant at an individual level but the collective effort and mental strength of the team has gotten them to this stage, and Luis de la Fuente will hope that Lamine Yamal has saved his best performance for the biggest game to get them over the top.
The two semi-finals of this World Cup are simply spectacular, and the first one is the game the entire world wanted to watch. The trilogy reaches its biggest and most important chapter, the stars are out, and we should all be ready for a spectacle.
Let’s dance.
(Be careful, Lamine.)
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Spain (4-2-3-1): Simón; Porro, Cubarsí, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fabián; Yamal, Olmo, Baena; Oyarzabal
France (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Digne; Koné, Rabiot; Dembélé, Olise, Doué; Mbappé
PREDICTION
Spain have not been anywhere near their best all tournament while France have looked terrifyingly comfortable on their run to the semis, but this will be the first major test for both sides and La Roja have the confidence of winning both games in the last two years. But I have a feeling France are destined to win this tournament and will find a way to win a thriller and move on to the title match: 3-2 to the Les Bleus.
