A devastated Rayan Cherki being consoled by Mikel Merino after France's 0-2 defeat against Spain in the semifinal on Tuesday. AFP/VNA Photos

Anh Đức

DALLAS — The unprecedented six-match World Cup winning streak of France came to an end on Tuesday, as they lost 0-2 to Spain in the semi-final in Dallas.

An early penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring for the Spaniards before Pedro Porro sealed a place in the final for La Roja in the second half.

France, on Bastille Day and in the most dominant form ever seen by a team in a World Cup, winning and scoring in all six of their matches, Kylian Mbappe and his teammates could not find a way past Unai Simon's goal.

Spain was methodical, both holding possession well and finding a way to cut off France's trademark counterattacks. Michael Olise, who provided five assists for Les Bleus this tournament, was out of form and had no impact whatsoever, making many inaccurate passes during the first half.

Contrary to France, who relied on individuals such as Olise, Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele up front, Spain played as a team, swarming the French attackers and outnumbering them whenever the men in dark blue got hold of the ball. The match went tit-for-tat in a particularly cautious game plan from both sides, where a mistake would be greatly punished.

And the mistake came unexpectedly, and from the perceived favourites in France. In the 22nd minute, a somewhat failed cross by Marc Cucurella landed in the box, where Lucas Digne seemed in control and should have cleared but the Aston Villa defender did not see Lamine Yamal sprinting for the ball, and instead of kicking the ball, Digne kicked Yamal in the thigh, inside the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot.

Mikel Oyarzabal scoring from the penalty spot to put Spain ahead.

Oyarzabal confidently put the ball into the bottom right corner, giving Mike Maignan no chance.

More trouble came the way of Les Bleus, as Arsenal's William Saliba suffered an injury in the 30th minute.

Didier Deschamps brought on Manu Kone in the second half in place of Adrien Rabiot, but the change did not work as the control still belonged to Spain, on a day where Rodri's play was on another level.

In the 58th minute, Pedro Porro played a great one-two with Dani Olmo, broke the offside trap and finished the chance cleanly, doubling Spain's lead.

Pedro Porro celebrates Spain's second goal.

Spain could have gotten a third three minutes later, after Yamal raced past Digne and curled the ball into Maignan's net. The 19-year-old, however, was offside and the goal was disallowed.

Manchester City's Rayan Cherki was brought on for the disappointing Olise, and though he did create chances for France in the latter part of the match, it was all too late as Spain saw out the match 2-0 and qualified for their second-ever World Cup Final, after the 'Golden Generation' of 2010.

Luis de la Fuente's side will face either England or Argentina in the final on Sunday (Monday Việt Nam time), while France await the loser of the other semifinal in the third-place match, with Kylian Mbappe's chase for the Golden Boot remains. — VNS