Spain sealed their place in the FIFA World Cup 2026 final with a commanding 2-0 victory over France in the semifinal on Tuesday night in Arlington, outclassing the two-time champions with a brilliant team performance.
Former French midfielder Patrick Vieira did not hold back in his assessment of the defeat, criticising the collective display of Didier Deschamps’ side on the grand stage.
“It was a big expectation for France to win the World Cup. We all are really disappointed by the result but mostly by the performance, because we needed our top players to perform today and they didn’t do it. It wasn’t one or two that were missing, all of them were missing. Collectively we were really bad,” Vieira said on ITV.
Stars like Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, and Michael Olise tried all night, but the Spanish defence stood firm and kept them quiet for the better part of the game.
Mikel Oyarzabal provided the breakthrough from the penalty spot in the first half after Lamine Yamal was fouled on the edge of the box by French left-back Lucas Digne. Ten minutes into the second half, full-back Pedro Porro played a glorious one-two with Dani Olmo before finishing with conviction to give Spain a 2-0 cushion, enough to end Les Bleus’ World Cup dreams.
France’s unbeaten streak of six games came to a crushing end as Deschamps’ men failed to score for the first time in this edition.
Although Digne was at fault for the penalty, Vieira pointed to winger Désiré Doué for his defensive lapse in the lead-up to the second goal. “The one-two was played around him, he has to be around him to stop his run or follow him. We can blame Digne for his tactical position but Doué has to be more decisive and more defensive-minded. We are talking about someone who won the Champions League. Defensively, the awareness has to go to a different level,” said the former Arsenal skipper.
Vieira also conceded that Olise, who had lit up the tournament in its earlier stages, failed to get involved, largely due to the spectacular shift put in by Luis de la Fuente’s men.
“Spain were the better team, France did not turn up at all. I said before Spain had to be at their best to beat this French team and I think they were above that. Collectively it was fantastic from them. Tactically they were all over them,” said an appraising Vieira.