'We want to get this title': Spain into World Cup final over France

European champions Spain reached the World Cup final with a ruthlessly efficient 2-0 triumph over France on Tuesday and can now dream in earnest of winning the title for a second time.

Mikel Oyarzabal converted a 22nd-minute penalty awarded for a foul by Lucas Digne against Lamine Yamal, and Pedro Porro fired the second in the 58th after a one-two with Dani Olmo.

Yamal thought he had curled a superb third the day after his 19th birthday, only to be marginally offside.

But it didn't matter as La Roja kept a sixth clean sheet in their seventh match of the tournament, in which they have only conceded once, as they all but completely contained France's formidable strike force led by Kylian Mbappé.

It was Spain's third semi-final win in a row over their northern neighbours, having beaten them 2-1 in the same round at Euro 2024 and 5-4 at the 2025 Nations League.

Second title looms

In the final on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, La Roja will face either title holders Argentina or England in what would be a rematch of the Euro 2024 final.

The Argentina v England semi-final is on Wednesday in Atlanta.

Spain won their first World Cup title in 2010 two years after their Euro title and history could repeat itself on Sunday.

"We have taken this last step and want to get this title," coach Luis de la Fuente said, praising his players who "make the difficult look easy.

"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."

Porro said: "We knew it would be difficult but we controlled the match. We knew we would have control and we managed to stop their transition game. It is a victory of the team, this is not about me."

No Bastille Day glory for Les Bleus

Twice champions Les Bleus failed to reach a third straight final on Bastille Day, with Mbappé coming closest with a deflected shot in the 67th minute.

France lacked the flair of their previous games in the record 26th World Cup match of their coach Didier Deschamps who will step down after the tournament without a second title as coach and third overall, having been the captain of the winning 1998 team.

France will finish on Saturday in the match for third place against the other semi-final loser.

"We tried, we failed, it just wasn't enough," Deschamps admitted.

"There is big disappointment. We had big ambitions but have to admit that Spain were better, they did a really good job."

"We were too weak in attack, but there were mistakes. We have to accept it. We tried everything but Spain showed that they are playing at a different level."

Spain dominate and take lead

A minute of silence was observed before kick-off to commemorate the victims of the terror attack in the French city of Nice 10 years ago.

De la Fuente made no changes to the starting XI from the quarter-final win over Belgium while Deschamps replaced Manu Koné und Désiré Doué with fit again Aurélien Tchouameni and Bradley Barcola.

As expected, Spain dominated possession and won an early free-kick right on the edge of the French penalty area. Referee Iván Barton needed a new bottle of spray to tell the French wall where to stand and Alex Baena then aimed right at the defenders.

France finally launched a first promising counter attack but Spain's defence managed to slow down Mbappé and the effort came to nothing.

Shortly after Spain won a penalty when Digne overlooked Yamal while trying to clear and hit the teenager instead of the ball.

Oyarzabal made no mistake from the spot in the 22nd as his shot into the right corner for a fifth tournament goal was too fierce to be stopped by Mike Maignon.

France struggle

France continued to struggle as their formidable attack led by Mbappé was more or less neutralised by the Spanish defence and Barcola aimed high from a distance in the 36th.

It was almost 2-0 in the 38th when Spain won the ball after a poor Maignan ball, strung together a few superb passes before Yamal's effort was blocked at the last instance by Dayot Upamecano.

Second goal and no France comeback

Nothing changed after intermission and Doué eventually came on for Barcola, only for Spain to double the lead a minute later.

Porro played the ball to Olmo who returned it despite being brought down by Upamecano, and Porro was completely unmarked to drill into the near corner.

Yamal's goal was then chalked off before France finally threatened for a first time in the 67th when Cucurella just deflected an Mbappé shot next to the left post.

Doué missed a golden opportunity after Simon had cleared again outside his penalty area but there was no way back for Les Bleus as Mbappé also blazed a late free-kick well over and Cucurella made another last-gasp intervention.