{"id":252720,"date":"2026-07-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/previewing-france-vs-spain-in-the-first-world-cup-semifinal-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T00:00:00","slug":"previewing-france-vs-spain-in-the-first-world-cup-semifinal-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/previewing-france-vs-spain-in-the-first-world-cup-semifinal-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"Previewing France vs. Spain in the first World Cup semifinal | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST: <\/strong>Saturday saw everyone\u2019s favorite Viking eliminated as (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DarBP6JvskF\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hey) Jude Bellingham<\/a>\u2019s two goals for England sent Norway rowing back home. Meanwhile, Argentina\u2019s Leo Messi got by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DareluMPxYT\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with a little help from his friends<\/a> to bid Switzerland <em>adieu<\/em>. Wednesday\u2019s newsletter will have all the deets on that epic semifinal, because we have to focus on tomorrow\u2019s between France and Spain.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Their most recent big stage matchups saw Spain eliminate France 2\u20131 in the 2024 Euros semis and again 5\u20134 in the 2025 UEFA Nations League semis\u2014 now the giants face off for a third time in two years tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET with even more on the line.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 <strong>Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 looking to lead<\/strong> <strong>France to third straight WC final: <\/strong><em>Les Bleus<\/em> have been unstoppable so far, winning all six of their WC games while outscoring their opponents 16\u20132, including a 2\u20130 QFs thumping of Morocco. Incredibly, this is all Mbapp\u00e9 knows \u2014 he\u2019s played in both WC finals since his 2018 debut at the ripe age of 19, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/07\/15\/629245670\/france-wins-world-cup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">winning one<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/12\/18\/1143933269\/world-cup-final-argentina-france-messi-mbappe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">losing the other<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>But the Golden Boot leader\u2019s not doing it alone. With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/story\/_\/id\/46344733\/psg-ousmane-dembele-wins-ballon-dor-ahead-lamine-yamal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reigning Ballon d\u2019Or winner<\/a> Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 backing him up, Mbapp\u00e9 switched into the central attacker spot and the result has been goals galore.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 <strong>Spain finally appears in-form after a slow WC start: <\/strong><em>La Roja<\/em> surprisingly drew with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/06\/16\/nx-s1-5859915\/cape-verde-goalkeeper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">beloved newcomer Cabo Verde<\/a> in their first group-stage game, but have since found their footing and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/story\/_\/id\/49314604\/lamine-yamal-spain-luis-de-la-fuente-excited-belgium\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">returned several key players from injury<\/a>. Plus, they\u2019ve allowed just one goal this entire tournament and that was in Friday\u2019s 2\u20131 QF win over Belgium.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spanish teenage forward phenom Lamine Yamal will do his best to disappoint France, along with midfielder Mikel Merino, who has come off the bench and scored twice in the knockouts. <em>Ol\u00e9.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/france-spain-world-cup-semifinal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: Saturday saw everyone\u2019s favorite Viking eliminated as (hey) Jude Bellingham\u2019s two goals for England sent Norway rowing back home. Meanwhile, Argentina\u2019s Leo Messi got by with a little help from his friends to bid Switzerland adieu. Wednesday\u2019s newsletter will have all the deets on that epic semifinal, because we have to focus on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-252720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}