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Close your eyes and imagine Spain in the World Cup final. You see Andrés Iniesta enter the box in Johannesburg. You see Xavi heading, David Villa finishing, Sergio Ramos flying down the right, Iker Casillas saving Spain’s life against Arjen Robben. This team won everything from 2008 to 2012 and changed the way the sport is perceived.
This was the team with the most recognizable style: Tiki-Taka.
This Spain is not that Spain. And after Tuesday at Dallas Stadium, that’s no longer necessary. Luis de la Fuente’s team dismantled France, 2-0, in the semifinals, and “dismantled” is being nice to France.
A penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal, won by Lamine Yamal, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. Pedro Porro, a right back, played a give-and-go with Dani Olmo and scored the second in the 58th. Kylian Mbappé and the most feared attack of the tournament were held to almost nothing. It was a suffocation, administered in the Spanish manner.
Here is the number that should terrify Argentina or England on Sunday: 1. This is the number of goals conceded by Spain in six matches. Italy arrived at the 2006 final with the same number (granted, a Cristian Zaccardo own goal against the United States) and left with the trophy.
(Photo by Hannah Peters – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Championship teams are usually built on this exact foundation, and no one noticed that Spain was building it because everyone was too busy waiting for the fireworks on the other end of the phone.
Because let’s be honest about what we all expected: we thought Lamine Yamal would be one of the big stars of this tournament. Instead, the 19-year-old has scored just one goal in seven games, perhaps the lingering remnants of the injury he suffered during the La Liga season are preventing him from performing at his best.
Read it again.
Spain are in the World Cup final and their biggest star’s only goal came in the group stage. If you had proposed this scenario in May, you would have been considered as if you had three heads. There’s still no real Yamal signing moment, as it’s unlikely we’ll be looking forward to that goal against Saudi Arabia in 20 years. He was dangerous, he won the penalty on Tuesday, he had a goal scored for offside.
But the eruption did not take place. Even more impressive, Spain didn’t need it.
That’s the point. This team hasn’t even played their best football yet, and they’re just one win away from the trophy.
One of the stars was Rodri, who controlled the match against France from start to finish and was the Mr. Reliable of the tournament. The Captain doesn’t do highlight videos. It doesn’t go viral on TikTok. It doesn’t freeze its tips. What Rodri does is 90 minutes to make the game easy while the opponent slowly runs out of ideas.
And the defense deserves flowers. Pau Cubarsí, himself still a teenager and legally unable to celebrate these victories here in the United States with a beer, treated the French front line like a training exercise. Unai Simon was unbeatable. Marc Cucurella seemed unfazed by the generational adversaries running at him.
The backs bombarded this legendary French counter-attack all night and never seemed worried about the space behind them. Pedro Porro’s goal was the reward. This requires either arrogance or complete structural confidence. With this Spain, it’s the latter.
Remember where this program was. From 2014 onwards, the World Cup became a house of horrors: an exit from the group stage as defending champions, then back-to-back knockout rounds on penalties, the last against Morocco in 2022. A generation of Spanish teams passed the ball magnificently and came home early.
Euro 2024 broke the spell. Sunday can bury him.
The 2010 Spain team remains the reference. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
The golden generation had more individual talent. No rational soul disputes this. But this team needed overtime to win its final. He was so effective, so ruthless at the back, that his best offensive player took a back seat to score, and it hardly mattered.
Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Ramos, Casillas. These names have built a legacy. They created an international dynasty. On Sunday, for the final, the new kids in the neighborhood will have the chance to start their own race.
And if Yamal ultimately chooses this scene for his big moment, this story writes his perfect ending.
