Neither France nor Spain has trailed at this year's World Cup, but only one can reach the final

ARLINGTON, Texas — Kylian Mbappé and France haven't trailed at all at this year's World Cup. Neither has Spain with teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and clutch goal-scoring substitute Mikel Merino. Only one of those teams can make it to the final. France and Spain are both playing at their 17th World Cup, but have met only once previously on soccer's biggest stage. They play today at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys in the first of two powerhouse semifinal matches. After entering this tournament as FIFA's top-ranked team, France has outscored its opponents 14-2. Mbappé, the 2022 Golden Boot winner, has eight goals to match Lionel Messi for the scoring lead this time, and is one behind the Argentina captain's career record of 21 at the World Cup. "We are focused," France midfielder Adrien Rabiot said. "We are confident, of course, with the course we have done so far, and we have to be, but always with this humility that has characterized us since the beginning of the competition." The 27-year-old Mbappé has 20 goals in his 20 World Cup matches, including one in the 2018 win over Croatia when he joined Pele as the only teenagers to score in a World Cup final. And the star striker for Les Bleus had said he is fine despite exiting in the 77th minute of their 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco after scoring a goal. Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, has already been part of two semifinal wins with Spain over France. He was just days shy of his 17th birthday when he scored in a 2-1 win during the 2024 European Championship semifinals, and Spain then won 5-4 in Nations League play last year. "I believe if France has to fear anyone, it should be us, in my opinion," Yamal said after Spain's quarterfinal victory over Belgium. "We were the ones that knocked them out before." The teen has only one goal while putting 10 shots on target after coming into this World Cup still nursing a left hamstring issue that forced him to miss the final weeks of the season for Spanish club Barcelona. France defender Jules Koundé also plays for Barcelona, so he knows Yamal well and didn't feel disrespected by those comments. "For me he is a sign of confidence. He always does it with (Barcelona). He trusts a lot in his virtues, in the virtues of the team where he plays," Koundé said in translated remarks. "So I see nothing as an extra motivation for him and that's it, that's all." Spain has outscored opponents 10-1 since a stunning scoreless draw against surprising Cape Verde to open group play, but La Roja needed late decisive goals from Merino after he entered the last two games as a second-half substitute. All while goaltender Unai Simón set a World Cup record of 650 minutes without allowing a goal until Belgium found the net in the 41st minute of their quarterfinal game. "I think that from the first game until today, the team needed to catch the rhythm, we had been without seeing each other for a long time," Spain midfielder Alex Baena said, adding that with more games and practices "the better the team has been." Merino scored in the 88th minute for that 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday. That came after the Arsenal forward's goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time for the 1-0 win over Portugal in the round of 16 at the same stadium where Spain's semifinal match will be played. Quartet of past champions This is the first World Cup since 1990 that each of the final four teams are former champions. Messi and defending champion Argentina, which beat France for the title in 2022, play England in the other semifinal match Wednesday in Atlanta. The championship match is Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the river from New York City. A third-place game will be played Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Both have raised World Cup trophy since they last met in the tourney In their only previous World Cup meeting, France beat Spain 3-1 in a round of 16 game at the 2006 tournament in Germany. Both teams have won the World Cup since then. Spain claimed its only title in 2010, and France won its second World Cup in 2018. France, which will be playing on its country's Bastille Day national holiday, is trying to join five-time champion Brazil and four-time winner Germany as the only teams to make three consecutive World Cup finals. Brazil did it in 1994, 1998 and 2002 — winning two titles and losing to host France in the middle of that run. Germany's championship in 1990 came after being runner-up in the previous two World Cups — all playing as West Germany at the time. Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout in 2022 after playing to a 3-3 draw. This is France's seventh semifinal appearance, its fifth in the last eight World Cups. Spain's only other semifinals were in 1950 and then 2010 on the way to the title. Wrapping up in Dallas AT&T Stadium in North Texas will be hosting its tournament-high ninth game, and in that one-month run there have been some soccer superstar moments in the building that has hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games for football and men's basketball. Messi scored three goals in Argentina's two group games, the first on June 22 when after missing a penalty kick he broke the World Cup career scoring mark with the first of his two goals in a 2-0 win over Austria. He added another goal as a late substitute in the group finale June 27 against Jordan. Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old superstar from Portugal, finished his sixth and final World Cup in the 1-0 round of 16 loss to Spain on July 6.