Sublime Spain see off sub-par France to march into their second World Cup final

[p]It was a slightly cagey start with so much at stake, but La Roja looked more confident and had more of the ball.[/p][p]Even so, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dembele-ousmane/zsMC2Ec0/"]Ousmane Dembele[/a] looked to have provided the moment of quality that could unlock their backline when he played the ball through for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mbappe-kylian/Wn6E2SED/"]Kylian Mbappe[/a], but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cubarsi-pau/UgTrNwCF/"]Pau Cubarsi[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/porro-pedro/nTebDzHC/"]Pedro Porro[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/laporte-aymeric/SYnaB65s/"]Aymeric Laporte[/a] teamed up to halt him.[/p][p][b]Instead, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lamine-yamal/lAt3vEub/"]Lamine Yamal[/a] nipped in intelligently to steal the ball from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/digne-lucas/v9Ux4sua/"]Lucas Digne[/a] and was kicked to win a penalty, which [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/oyarzabal-mikel/dQ1P695O/"]Mikel Oyarzabal[/a] clinically finished to open the scoring in the 22nd minute.[/b][/p][embed guid="53a23dac-b9ae-4004-b81d-4e22d41544e2" url="https://x.com/Flashscorecom/status/2077112432133071153" social-type="twitter" /][p]That blow came moments before the hydration break, and another came shortly after it, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/saliba-william/EgIM3sB7/"]William Saliba[/a] forced off through injury.[/p][p]While [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/barcola-bradley/lhGD3RgS/"]Bradley Barcola[/a] showed good feet at the other end, he ultimately struck off target and La Roja were soon back to creating problems when a beautiful passage of play following [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/maignan-mike/S6gN2QNC/"]Mike Maignan[/a]’s mistake required [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/upamecano-dayot/OMhLhEJB/"]Dayot Upamecano[/a] to get across and deny [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruiz-fabian/l6HSH2Uo/"]Fabian Ruiz[/a].[/p][p]Les Bleus still posed a question despite their severely disappointing half, as Unai Simon had to rush out superbly to meet [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rabiot-adrien/l08EAP2Q/"]Adrien Rabiot[/a]’s through ball ahead of Mbappe.[/p][p][b]Didier Deschamps called upon [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kone-kouadio/YDaoYZBS/"]Manu Kone[/a] ahead of the restart and then [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/doue-desire/KIUWH2Jq/"]Desire Doue[/a] in the 57th minute, but both changes were futile as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/spain/bLyo6mco/"]Spain[/a] doubled their lead within moments of the latter. Pedro Porro played the ball to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/olmo-dani/2oVBOlPg/"]Dani Olmo[/a] and got it back before coolly beating Maignan for his second international goal.[/b][/p][image alt="Porro's goal" id="45ac16fe-f396-4fb9-bebf-fc6cab8e6db0" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform (REUTERS / Hannah McKay)" guid="34521e9f-fd69-4e16-baab-624e14354aad" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Lamine Yamal thought he had further added to Spain’s joy moments later, but saw his goal ruled out for a marginal offside call.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/france/QkGeVG1n/"]France[/a] finally looked like conjuring a response after that reprieve, although [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tchouameni-aurelien/QkiZum3e/"]Aurelien Tchouaméni[/a] sent a flick over the crossbar and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cucurella-marc/QTynbZd3/"]Marc Cucurella[/a] deflected Mbappe’s strike wide.[/p][p]That potential threat didn’t last long, as Spain regained control with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/torres-ferran/AVAVLaLt/"]Ferran Torres[/a] guiding a header wide.[/p][p]Doue then failed to punish Simon’s unconvincing header as La Roja kept a sixth clean sheet from their seven matches at this WC to set up a final against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/england/j9N9ZNFA/"]England[/a] or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]Argentina[/a].[/p][p]That will be the first of the last three finals not to feature France, leaving Deschamps disappointed on the day he became the first-ever manager to take charge of 26 matches at the WC. [/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/france-QkGeVG1n/spain-bLyo6mco/summary/stats/?mid=pU0PQ9nR"]Catch up on the key match stats here.[/a][/b][/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/porro-pedro/nTebDzHC/"]Pedro Porro[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/spain/bLyo6mco/"]Spain[/a])[/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="7becfe34-5648-44e2-8732-077a2a48308a" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="57e6c045-b080-4b33-9265-b41212f3e60c" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /]