One thing I like about Spain is the Mikel Oyarzabal. Lifer at Real Sociedad And has been clutch for them in the tourney. https://fbref.com/en/players/8c3c640c/Mikel-Oyarzabal
France were shocking - apart from Mbappe (and early tourney Dembele) - their attack was actually quite poor. Rabiot was a disaster as was Digne. There was little to no creativity in the French midfield - so at some point as the norm they were begging for Mbappe to win them the game. Spain passed them to death and absolutely controlled the game from minute 1.
I thought France has got though largely because of moments of individual brilliance while Spain has been playing as a team.
Enjoyed Spain's collective approach, both with and without the ball. They backed themselves in tight spaces, consistently receiving under pressure and playing through France's press when necessary, but also dropping back to restart the process if there was no outlet. There was always a passing option, with midfielders and forwards constantly rotating to create triangles and offer an outlet. And when possession was lost, they had both the hunger and the skills to win the ball back as a unit. I've got to say, earlier on, I was baffled by how easily Upamecano and Saliba were finding life easy marking Oyarzabal, with Olmo seemingly too far away to provide support and close off the angle. But Spain had a plan, when it worked, France's central defenders were caught out and seemed unable to switch from marking just one man to three. And while France often seemed to be waiting for a moment of inspiration from Mbappé, with Dembélé missing in action, Spain looked like a fully functioning collective. Yamal, though outstanding, was just another cog in a well-oiled machine rather than the sole source of creativity. Spain's threat came from the structure; anybody who remembers what Benítez was trying to do in 2008/09, particularly with Gerrard and Torres, will recognise this: the movement and the relationships between players. Good team play.
Up until the last couple of Spain games I always thought Olmo was totally overrated. Not now. Best false-9 player since Bobby. Superb.
I think France/Deschamp made a couple of errors yesterday. Should have left Kone in for Tchoumani - Kone breaks open attacking space far more when he receives the ball in transitions. For most teams this is useful, for a team like France with4 good incisive fast spreading attackers, it means a hell of lot. (At 2-0 down there wil be far less transitions as Spain will play deep deep ball possession.) Prob Doue (should have started) but shoud have came on at half-time, but at that stage it wasn;t yet a crisis. Wouldn;t have taken off Olise unless he was tired. By that stage you were in need of a moment of genius. Leave those guys on. Dembele for me would have been first I think ( guessy stuff here - no one pays me the big bucks to be a little Klopp ) but after 20-25 minutes Olise would have had more joy had he came infield to be a 3 rd midfielder and stayed there - in the way Olmo was doing/does ....... Rodri and Ruiz had too much time to think their way out of any issue they faced. After 1/2 an hour it was clear that Spain were holding/dominating the midfield......
That was pretty obvious throughout the euros and at barcelona last year. great link player - definitley similarities with Firmino.
No idea who is winning this game - On paper, England should destroy Argentina in terms of overall top to bottom talent.