The Road to the Semi-Finals
France's tournament has been the most serene of any side left in it. Group I was swept aside — Senegal overwhelmed at MetLife on opening night, Norway hit for four in what remains the group stage's most complete team performance — before the knockout rounds settled into a rhythm of controlled, unhurried wins. Sweden were dispatched 3–0 in the Round of 32, Kylian Mbappé scoring either side of half-time, and a stubborn Paraguay were finally broken by his 70th-minute penalty in the Round of 16. The Quarter-Final against Morocco followed the same script, just with a longer fuse. For an hour at Gillette Stadium, Walid Regragui's side did what they have done to everyone this summer — compressed the space, broke up the rhythm, kept the scoreline blank — and for an hour France declined to panic. Then the tie ended in six minutes: Mbappé finishing coolly on the hour mark, and Ousmane Dembélé cutting in off the right to sweep home the second in the 66th. A 2–0 win, and the fourth straight knockout match in which France never once looked like losing. They remain unbeaten, have scored in every game, have not trailed for a single minute of this World Cup — and have still not conceded a knockout-stage goal.
Deschamps' Blueprint: Control Above All
Didier Deschamps has built this run on the same principle that has defined his entire tenure: control first, spectacle second. N'Golo Kanté's positioning in front of the back four remains the quiet foundation of everything — three knockout matches, three clean sheets — and the attacking swagger comes almost entirely from the front line. Mbappé now has goals in four consecutive knockout-stage appearances and is closing in on the all-time World Cup knockout-scoring record, while Dembélé's strike against Morocco was overdue reward for a tournament of relentless, defender-dragging movement. What pleased Deschamps most in Boston was the patience: an hour of Moroccan resistance produced no forcing of the issue and no abandoning of shape — just a gradual raising of the tempo until the door opened, and then two goals through it before Morocco could shut it again. The complacency he had publicly warned about before the knockout rounds never materialised, and a squad chasing a third consecutive World Cup final now looks as focused as at any point in this cycle.
Semi-Final Opponent: Spain — What Are France's Chances?
Tuesday's Semi-Final at AT&T Stadium in Arlington is the collision this bracket has been building towards: the tournament's two most controlled teams, one built on Spain's suffocating possession game, the other on France's ability to strike devastatingly from within structure. Spain arrive with a habit that should genuinely concern France — winning the tightest matches late, Mikel Merino's 88th-minute strike against Belgium following his stoppage-time winner against Portugal in the round before. La Roja have not trailed at any point of this knockout stage, and in Lamine Yamal they carry the one attacker in the draw capable of beating France's full-backs on his own. The tactical battle will likely be decided on France's left flank, where Yamal's one-on-one brilliance meets Theo Hernandez's aggression, and in whether Kanté can deny Pedri the half-spaces he has lived in all tournament. Spain will almost certainly see more of the ball; no team left in the draw circulates it faster. But France hold two trump cards: a defence yet to concede a knockout goal, and in Mbappé the one forward in the world who does not need his team to dominate a game in order to decide it. Prediction: France 2–1 Spain. Expect Spain to control long stretches of possession — and France, as they have all tournament, to win the moments that actually matter.
