2026 FIFA World Cup: How Spain totally locked down Olise & Mbappe to outclass France - Dictators

History has a way of repeating itself for Spain at this level. 16 years after their first World Cup win in 2010, La Roja are back in the final.

And this time the manner of getting there was every bit as emphatic as the scoreline suggests.

Luis de la Fuente's side put on a tactical clinic at Dallas Stadium, beating France 2-0 to set up a final against either England or Argentina this Sunday. 

For long spells, this didn't look like two of the world's best teams going toe-to-toe. It looked like Spain playing chess while France scrambled to keep up.

The breakthrough came from the penalty spot midway through an otherwise cagey first half, after Digne brought down Yamal inside the box. 

Mikel Oyarzabal stepped up and made no mistake. From there, Spain never really loosened their grip. 

The second goal, when it arrived just after the hour mark, was a thing of real quality; Porro combining in a slick one-two with Olmo before slotting calmly past Mike Maignan. 

Yamal even thought he'd added a third moments later, curling home from close range, only to see the effort chalked off for offside.

For France and Didier Deschamps, there's now nothing left to play for but pride. Saturday's third-place play-off will be the last game of Deschamps' long reign in charge of Les Bleus, hardly the send-off he'll have wanted.

What made this performance stand out wasn't just the result, it was how comprehensively Spain dictated the terms of the contest. 

La Roja simply took the game away from France and never gave it back, suffocating a France attack stacked with individual brilliance and forcing them into a night of frustration.

Spain now carry that momentum into a shot at a second World Cup crown in New York New Jersey on Sunday. 

France, meanwhile, make the trip to Miami for Saturday's Bronze final, a full 24 hours earlier, and a world away from where they wanted to be at this stage of the tournament.

Anyone who watched the match without knowing the score could have guessed the outcome purely from the underlying numbers. 

Despite the attacking talent of Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele and Doue, France mustered just 0.3 expected goals from 10 attempts, with only three of those shots even testing Spain's goalkeeper.

Spain, by contrast, needed no late drama and no heroics from a substitute this time. They generated 1.63 xG from their own 10 shots and made both of their clear-cut opportunities count. 

They also created three big chances to France's none, and controlled 51% of possession, stringing together 427 completed passes across the ninety-plus minutes. 

France actually had more touches inside Spain's box (19), yet somehow had nothing to show for it, a telling stat that sums up just how well Spain defended the moments that mattered.

It didn't take long for football fans to start reacting to the gulf in quality on show. 

'Whoever said Spain was going to be a big problem for France, you know ball,' wrote one supporter, only half-joking.

Others were even more direct about it. 'Brilliant football. Spain have totally outclassed France,' read one post doing the rounds.

One individual battle in particular caught plenty of eyes - Marc Cucurella's evening-long shutdown of Olise. 

'Cucurella has Olise on lockdown,' one fan wrote. 'I knew he was good, I didn't realise how good Cucurella was.'

Spain march on to Sunday's final with real momentum behind them. 

France, for all their talent, now have some serious soul-searching to do before the Deschamps era officially comes to a close.