&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "‘France should fear us in World Cup semifinal,’ says Spain’s wonder boy Lamine Yamal")
Wonder boy Lamine Yamal said France should fear Spain as the two heavyweights are set to face off in the first semifinal of the World Cup on Tuesday (Jul 14) in Texas. France qualified for the final four after beating Morocco 2-0, while Spain did so after a 2-1 win over Belgium. Mikel Merino struck an 88th-minute winner for Spain, as the 2010 champions became the second team to qualify for the World Cup semifinals.
Meanwhile, Spain and France will meet for the third time in the last three years, with Spain holding the upper hand with a 2-1 scoreline, having beaten them twice in the semifinals of the 2024 Euros and the 2025 UEFA Nations League.
"If France should fear anyone, it's us," Yamal said to the reporters after Spain's win over Belgium. "We have knocked them out [before]. We have beat them two times. Honestly, I think we're the two best teams at the World Cup, so we'll see what happens, but we do not have any fear."
While it is Spain’s first World Cup semifinal since their historic 2010 title run, the French side reached their third straight World Cup semifinal since 2018. In Russia and Qatar (in 2022), France even reached the World Cup finals, winning once and losing once.
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Watch FIFA World Cup 2026 live on Zee5 Photograph: (WION)
"The expectations are very, very high for the next game," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said of the semifinal against France.
"We're concentrated on this next game and very well aware of the potential of our opponent at the next game. But, also, we are very clear that we are able to beat France.
“We have the quality, and it's a semifinal again. We've had a semifinal against them. We were successful. The game will be very demanding. It'll be energetic. We'll need to have the best version of ourselves.”
‘No One Goes Toe-to-Toe With Us’
Even though they are on a winning spree, Spain hasn’t dominated opponents like France or even Argentina have. Commenting on how teams sit back against them in almost all games, resulting in low-scoring fixtures, Yamal said, "It may seem as if we're not playing great, but every team we play sits back against us.
"No one has gone toe-to-toe with us, but in the end, we got the win again today. That is the most important thing.
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“We are really happy to be in the semifinal. We've been here for a long time now, and we want to stay until the final,” he added.
