The first of the 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinals saw European heavyweights Spain and France clash in Texas, with the former running out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro.
Indeed it was Porro's goal that became the moment of Day 30 of the World Cup, simply underlining Spain's dominance as they strolled to the World Cup final.
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"They try to get you on that passing carousel; try to make you dizzy..."
Almost an hour into this much-hyped France-Spain semifinal, the French haven't really got near the ball, but trailing 0-1 to a cleverly won (and superbly taken) penalty, they don't have much choice but to chase and harry and hassle. Marc Cucurella takes up the ball on the left, and starts passing it about, playing it back to Aymeric Laporte. The big centre-back brings in goalkeeper Unai Simón, who gives it back to him. The next pass finds Rodri, and the midfield general brings Fabián Ruiz in, before Pedro Porro gets a touch of the ball.
From left to right the ball moves and all this while -- as Spain pass it along inside their own defensive third -- the French attackers are close by, just never close enough. They're chasing but the moment they close in on a white shirt, the ball has already moved on. The French are on the passing carousel, and there's little they can do about it.
That quote about the carousel, the phrase itself, was from Alex Ferguson, when the former Manchester United boss tried to explain how Barcelona used to do things. That was when Frank Rijkaard was in charge, even before Pep Guardiola took it to a whole new level over the following few seasons. Ever since, the phrase 'passing carousel' has been synonymously linked with all things Spanish football, underlined by their national team's victorious 2010 World Cup campaign. Lately, though, not many have said it about the Spanish national team itself -- especially not in this World Cup.
Having started with an underwhelming 0-0 draw with Cape Verde, Spain had barely looked a threat as they grinded out result after result to get to the semifinal. There were always tantalising glimpses of what's possible, but all that had remained well below the surface for the most part. Super-sub Mikel Merino saved them from Extra Time in the last two rounds, and the feeling ahead of this crunch clash, Spain would dish out more of the same.
After all, 'bore France to death' seemed as reasonable a ploy as any given the scintillating form of the Frenchmen, especially that fearsome forward line of theirs. Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise had ripped all comers apart with their high-speed, direct football and for the casual observer, were the clear favourites amongst the two.
Except the casual observer was yet to realise that Spain hadn't even slipped out of first gear yet, this whole tournament.
For a good 30 seconds, Spain pass it around the back. At first glance, the whole thing looks pointless, possession for possession's sake, but zoom out and you immediately notice that France's shape has been torn asunder in their incessant, futile, pursuit of the ball. Which is when Dani Olmo is played into the French half by a simple straight pass from Laporte. Undisturbed, for there is no French midfield anymore, he runs to the edge of the French box where he lays it off to Álex Baena.
The winger's stop is blocked, but it bounces back to him, and he squares it to Rodri. The skipper looks up and tries to ping an aerial into Yamal inside the French box but that gets headed out too. Once again, though, the ball bounces back to a Spaniard, this time Ruiz, who has enough time to chest it down to Rodri and get it back from him.
All this while the French still have had nothing to do with the ball (the two defensive interventions apart). All game long Rodri and Ruiz and Olmo had run the midfield like their personal fiefdom, controlling the tempo and the flow and the rhythm of both ball and man (whether on their side or the other).
All three had had injury-hit seasons which ended in varying degrees of success for their clubs and hadn't been at the top of their games when coming into the World Cup - Rodri and Ruiz especially. This had shown in the earlier games (where Ruiz was a second half sub for Pedri usually), but against France, everything was clicking. In front of them, Yamal was a constant threat down the right, Baena hard-working down the left and Mikel Oyarzabal not letting the centre-backs settle in one place. But this Spain's threat, as with their 2010 vintage, lay not in the singular names dotting their lineup. They were about to show, once again, that it lay within the collective.
As Ruiz runs with it and passes it on to Porro on the right, you'd have forgiven the French for going, 'Oh, my! Here we go on that carousel again.' But then, suddenly, Porro cut in and pinged it into Olmo in the centre, before setting off in a straight sprint into the French penalty box.
Porro had come into the World Cup having spent the domestic season being as bafflingly inconsistent as any of his Tottenham Hotspur teammates and had started the World Cup on the bench. After the team's toothless display against Cape Verde, though, coach Luis de la Fuente decided he needed Porro's sense of adventure on the right to get the best out of his team.
He had rewarded that faith with a goal against Austria in their round of 32 stroll, and it was never in doubt that he would start this semifinal. Tasked with keeping the roving front four quiet, though, most expected him to remain in his own half for the most part. But a combination of Spain's domination of the ball (68% possession by the end) and Porro's own attacking instincts meant France's wingers were struggling to keep up with his runs into their half as much as they were struggling to get past him when they ventured forward.
Before releasing the pass, Porro had pointed to the spot he is going to get to, and that's all that Olmo needs. Despite the extreme pressure from big Dayot Upamecano, an off-balance Olmo finds a way to tap it right into the space Porro had pointed out. As he races onto it, he's in absolute acres -- for Yamal has dragged Lucas Digne wide, and Oyarzabal has pulled Maxence Lacroix up the field. Porro has enough time to take two touches to set himself up and calmly slot a finish under the onrushing Mike Maignan.
As the Spaniards celebrate, their opponents shrug at each other, helplessness sweeping through them. On the sidelines, Didier Deschamps looks utterly perplexed. In four World Cups, his team hadn't ever been dismantled like this... and yet here they are. Spain 2, France 0. And with more than half an hour to go, everyone gets the overwhelming feeling that it's game over.
In that 55-second spell of possession, from Cucurella to Porro via almost everyone else, Spain had shown just what they are like when they move up the gears, just how hard it can be when they get you on that passing carousel and make you all dizzy.
Pedro Porro's goal was just the punctuation to a long-winded sentence that spelt out: 'thanks for playing France, time to go home now.'
