Last night, European Champions Spain defeated 2018 World Champions France 2-0 to reach the final of the 2026 World Cup.

All through the tournament, France have tagged the best team in the 2026 World Cup but they were outdone by the Tiki-Taka Spanish side. It was a beauty to behold as the Spanish side made light work of the French team.

Mikel Oyarzabal converted a 22nd minute penalty before Pedro Porro made it 2-0 in the 58th minute after a nice slip through from Dani Olmo. The European champions were comfortable on the table, didn’t make hasty decisions and were very precise.

Rodri was influential in the middle, Laporte in defence alongside Cubarsi. Laporte made 70 passes, the highest by any player on the pitch. Unai Simon was key in the game, performing sweeper keeper duties twice in the game to deny Kylian Mbappe of any joy.

For France, what could go wrong went wrong. The penalty was an unfortunate one. Saliba went off in the first half with a back injury. I think his World Cup is over. I won’t expect him in the 3rd place match or even in Arsenal’s early season matches.

Spain will play the winner of England and Argentina. Can England stop Messi from another World Cup final?

This will be the 6th match between the two countries at the World Cup. The last meet at the Mundial was a 1-0 win for England in 2002 but the biggest was the 2-1 win for Argentina in 1986, famous for the “Hand of God”. England have lost only two of their 14 matches against Argentina, winning six and drawing the other six.

According to the Opta Supercomputer, England advance in 51.9% of simulations. England would hope to have Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham at the party. They are on 6 goals each – the first time in the World Cup history that 2 players from same country have 6 goals in the same tournament.

Argentina have scored 3 goals in each of their last 4 matches. Can they score 3 against England? They have scored 17 goals so far in the 2026 World Cup – the most by any team.

Prediction: Argentina to progress via penalties.