De La Fuente wary of ‘much better’ France ahead of FIFA WC semis

Arlington, July 14 (IANS) As familiar foes, France and Spain will renew acquaintances on the biggest of stages in a FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final showdown at Dallas Stadium, La Roja head coach Luis de la Fuente said he knows Le Blues are a much better team than the one they defeated in the Euro 2024 semi-finals.

The two teams will face each other for the second time in the final stages of the World Cup after the round of 16 matchup in 2006, which France won 3-1. Since then, the tide has turned, and the French national team has suffered two defeats against Spain in the Nations League semi-finals in 2025 and, more significantly, in the Euro 2024 semi-finals in Munich.

“France are much better now than they were when we faced them before. “Individually, they have grown. Kylian Mbappe is better, Ousmane Dembele is better. As a team, they are better. We have also improved as well,” De La Fuente said in pre-match presser.

“We’ve studied France very carefully. Their footballing quality is exceptional. But so is ours. The objective is to prevent those players from running freely, stop them from connecting with each other, and reduce the impact of their strengths as much as possible. That’s football,” he added.

France have stormed through the tournament with Mbappe and Dembele leading the way with eight and five goals, respectively. They earned their final four date thanks to a comprehensive 2-0 win over Morocco.

Meanwhile, Spain’s road has not been for the faint of heart. Late goals were needed against both Portugal and Belgium to reach this stage, with Mikel Merino supplying the winning strikes.

“I’ve said before that this could easily have been the tournament final,” De La Fuente said. “The other semifinal between Argentina and England could also be considered a World Cup final. The four remaining teams are among the best in the FIFA rankings, the four best in the world.”

“That means we have to keep improving. We must eliminate unnecessary mistakes. We can’t give the opponent easy opportunities. We need to control the game as much as possible. We have to be disciplined and intelligent in both penalty areas, defensively and offensively. Those are the messages we’ll give our players,” he added.

–IANS

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