Spain are not covered in stardust. It’s one of the reasons they are in the World Cup final

By the end, Kylian Mbappe, the form player of the tournament, could only screw up his nose in frustration. Already booked for a lunge on the Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon, Mbappe then smashed a free-kick over the bar.

In a World Cup semi-final, it did not happen for Real Madrid’s Mbappe, the second highest World Cup goalscorer of all time. It also did not happen for Ousmane Dembele, the Paris Saint-Germain winger who currently holds the Ballon d’Or. Neither, too, for Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise, the man who has orchestrated goals, almost at will, over the past season. When France reached for the aces in their pack — first Desire Doue of PSG, and then Rayan Cherki of Manchester City — it would not happen for them, either.

In the aftermath of this semi-final, questions will be asked of the French coach Didier Deschamps and his set of star-studded players, who appeared to so many destined for glory. Cherki, for one, told reporters that Spain “lost against ourselves”.

Yet this result was no accident. Spain were not in the trenches. Their goalkeeper Unai Simon did not make a great save. They did not sit back and frustrate France. They had more ball, they made more passes, and just as many shots.

Any sane French analysis of this exit must recognise the second team in the arena, who delivered one of the all-time great collective World Cup performances.

To most observers (including this one), France had been the competition’s outstanding side during the group stages and early knockout rounds of the competition. Yet within the Spain camp, a steely defiance remained. Lamine Yamal, Spain’s star boy, turned 19 on Monday and spent much of the past week insisting it was the French, rather than the Spanish, who ought to be worried. Yamal spent Monday at training in the morning, then a press conference and show in the afternoon, and then he popped along to cut his three-year-old brother Keyne’s hair in the evening.

“There are much harder things in life than a football match,” Yamal said. “It’s a game, I know what I’m capable of and I’m not worried about anything.”

The Spanish confidence was not without foundation. This is a nation which won the UEFA Nations League in 2023, reaching the final again in 2025, while winning the Euros in between. Along that stretch of form, they have now beaten Italy twice, England, Germany, Norway, Portugal and Belgium. Oh, and France — three times. They are now 37 games unbeaten, the joint longest streak in men’s international history. Deschamps could hardly say he had not been warned.

It did not help France’s case that they appeared to turn up in Arlington and presume they could adopt exactly the same game plan as every previous World Cup match and sweep to victory. On this occasion, Deschamps did not seem to account for Spain being a different opponent with a specific plan which could at once combat French strengths while targeting their weaknesses.

Yamal, while not at his very sharpest, played a highly effective part in this. Spain identified Lucas Digne as France’s weakest link and in the one-on-one duel, Yamal appeared to have Digne running scared from the start, darting and weaving inside and outside of the Aston Villa left-back.

His anticipation broke the game in Spain’s direction, reading a loose ball sharply to tease a foul from Digne and earn Spain a penalty which cemented the dynamics of the contest. Digne, run ragged by the 70-minute mark, was ultimately substituted for Theo Hernandez.

Before the age of 20, Yamal will have played in a European Championship final — which Spain won against England in 2024 — and now a World Cup final on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

Spain won these mini-battles all over the field. Olise, so influential in this tournament, was reduced to a bystander, such was the discipline and positioning of Rodri and Fabian Ruiz. With Olise nullified so, too, was the service to France’s most potent weapons in Dembele and Mbappe. France always appeared a man short in central midfield, leaving them unable to construct play of their own, but also ragged in restricting Spain. Adrien Rabiot, one of Deschamps’ most trusted lieutenants, was forced into two late challenges in the first half, one of which earned a booking, and the second which placed him on such a tightrope that he did not return for the second half.

Spain’s coach Luis de la Fuente clearly identified that this French set-up, a 4-2-3-1 with Olise floating as the No. 10, could be outnumbered and frustrated by Spain’s midfield quality. It helped Spain’s cause that Rodri, a former Ballon d’Or winner, is now back to his very best after a cruciate knee ligament injury kept him out for much of the 2024-25 season. He was majestic at the base of the Spanish midfield, breaking up French attacks and knitting together play. De La Fuente described Rodri as his team’s “backbone.”

“I said a long time ago that questioning him was insulting intelligence,” the Spanish coach said. “Time showed us right. He’s an ideal player for this football idea that we have.

“We did it with discipline, organization, commitment, effort, we interpreted well all the game facets. That’s what we do best as Spanish players, interpreting and how to (handle) defensive phases in the midfield. That’s through our work as coaches, what we do at that (youth) level.”

Spain do, of course, have plenty of excellent players, but this is not a Spanish team which had captured the imagination of a global audience for much of the past month. Yamal aside, these are not the players we have seen on the back of jerseys across North America, or whom brands would place on billboards or video game covers.

Spain have stumbled through at times, but now they have proven to be a team that plays up to the level of their opponents. To some, the late goals required against Portugal in the round of 16 and Belgium in the quarter-final were evidence of incompleteness, suggestive that they may be derailed by higher-ranked sides. Now, however, those late goals can be reframed; as the doggedness of winners, the spirit of a team that refuses to say no.

The culture is clearly strong. De La Fuente spoke about the need to “wisely” choose his travel companions during a 39-day World Cup. “If you get it wrong there, you might be in trouble. We did it right. With this group, everyone in our camp, we’re working toward a shared goal. I’ve never seen such an exemplary attitude on the pitch. Off the pitch, we haven’t had a single problem.”

Now, they have backed it up with the most cohesive performance of the entire tournament. France did not have a shot on target until the 82nd minute. Some individuals outplayed their club form. Pedro Porro has struggled for much of the past year at Tottenham, but left Dallas to a standing ovation and a man-of-the-match reward, applying a sumptuous finish for Spain’s excellent second goal. Aymeric Laporte, outstanding in the Spanish defence, spent two years in Saudi Arabia before returning to Athletic Bilbao last summer. The 19-year-old Pau Cubarsi confirmed his status as one of the planet’s most exciting young center-backs. If he can shackle Mbappe at this age, how good might the Barcelona defender become by the next World Cup? His club team-mate Dani Olmo provided the guile and skill for the Spanish second, producing a magnificent flick to unlock the French defence.

Here came a reminder, too, that tournament football can sometimes be won by the best defence rather than the best attack, by the most coherent showing over 90 minutes rather than the most devastating fleeting moments.

“This team interprets to perfection every single game,” De La Fuente added. “That’s the key. When we play like a team, we’re unbeatable.”

In 2010, when Spain won the World Cup for the only time, they did so while conceding only twice. When winning the Euros in 2012, they conceded only once. In this World Cup, Spain have now conceded just once, with only Belgium breaching their defence.

As the clock ticked down, the television cameras cut to the stands, where past Spanish World Cup winners Iker Casillas, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos and Xavi watched down, their legacy of both style and substance perfectly intact.