By Samuel Olusegun Precious
Spain defeated favourites France on Tuesday in Dallas to reach their first final since 2010.
France, the favourites by bookmakers before the encounter were reduced to just ten shots-their lowest since the competition started- while Spain controlled the game from start to finish.
Spain took the lead when Lucas Digne careless tackle against Lamine Yamal resulted in a penalty, which Ozaryabal converted while Pedro Porro put the game beyond the French in the second half.
It got worse for the 2018 champions and finalists in 2022 when defender William Saliba got subbed off with a bad injury.
Spain have now gone 38 competitive matches unbeaten.
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Outgoing France manager Didier Deschamps: “The players are devastated but we have to be clear-headed … technically we were second best … that is on us … we lacked technical precision and energy … the Spanish are very good at breaking up moves by reading interceptions and passes … we would have liked to cause them more problems going forward … I don’t want to take anything away from Spain, a really good team which knows how to master its plan, but we lacked offensive aggression … although aggression might not be the right term … they forced us to defend … we did not manage to make this game difficult for them.”
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente: “We started almost four years ago with an idea and we’ve been faithful to that idea and it’s brought us here … today we faced one of the best national teams in the world … but in front of them they had the best team in the world … that is different … these players deserve everything … day after day they’ve showed their commitment, their solidarity, their generosity, their talent … they make the difficult look easy.”
