France walked into its semifinal against Spain with a perfect record in the World Cup 2026, six wins from six matches and Kylian Mbappé leading the line as its top scorer. Spain, with five wins from six, had the task of stopping the tournament’s only unbeaten team.
That makes the matchup search itself today: Spain Vs France is not just a semifinal, but a test of whether Spain can finally slow a side that has turned efficiency into momentum. France had scored 16 goals and conceded two, and it had gone three straight matches without allowing one, a run that gives this game a different edge from the previous meetings between these teams.
Mbappé has been the face of that surge. He has six goals in the tournament, 20 in 20 World Cup matches overall, and 64 in 104 matches across all competitions and friendlies for France. France has also reached the semifinals for the third consecutive World Cup, a stretch that includes winning Russia 2018 and finishing runner-up in Qatar 2022, and the team now looks more complete than the one that reached Eurocopa 2024.
That history matters because Spain has had France’s number in ways that do not fit the shape of this tournament. Spain had lost only two of its last ten matches against France, including a 2-1 comeback win in the Eurocopa 2024 semifinal and a 5-1 semifinal win on neutral ground in the Liga de Naciones de 2025. In that 5-1 match, France struck first through Mbappé, but Spain answered with four goals in 55 minutes through Nico Williams, Mikel Merino, Lamine Yamal and Pedri González before later goals from Rayan Cherki, Dani Vivían and Randal Kolo Muani closed the scoreline.
That is the friction inside this semifinal. France arrives unbeaten and harder to break down than it was in either of those earlier defeats, yet Spain has already shown it can beat this opponent in the biggest moments. If Mbappé is as decisive here as he has been all tournament, France can keep its perfect run alive; if Spain repeats the pattern from the last two semifinal meetings, the side that looked untouchable will leave with its first loss.
