World Cup Semifinals Set: France-Spain and England-Argentina
For the first time in World Cup history, the top four teams in the FIFA rankings all reach the final four. France meet Spain in Dallas, England face Argentina in Atlanta.
- First semifinal: France vs. Spain, on Tuesday, July 14, at the stadium in Dallas.
- Second semifinal: England vs. Argentina, on Wednesday, July 15, at the stadium in Atlanta.
- For the first time in World Cup history, all four top-ranked teams on the FIFA list are playing in the semifinals.
- The World Cup final is scheduled for July 19.
The whistle for the end of the quarterfinals had barely faded when the big screen already flashed a bracket that fans across the stands photographed on their phones. Four names, two ties, one trophy. And a beat of silence before the stadium erupted again. Nobody has ever seen a semifinal lineup quite like this one.
Because this year’s World Cup has produced something that never happened before. All four of the highest-ranked teams on the FIFA list have fought their way into the final four. There is no dark horse lurking in the shadows, no outsider who knocked out the favorites in the knockout rounds. The only ones left are the sides that spent the whole cycle at the top.
The first semifinal is played on Tuesday, July 14, at the stadium in Dallas. France against Spain, two schools of football that know each other inside out, a duel in which every careless touch in midfield will cost you. The second semifinal follows a day later, on Wednesday, July 15, at the stadium in Atlanta. England against Argentina, a pairing with plenty of history and even more edge.
How did they get here?
None of these four teams had it easy, and that is exactly what gives this lineup its weight. England and Argentina reached the semis after late turnarounds in the closing stages of their quarterfinal matches, when it looked as if the tie had swung the other way. When a national team flips the score in the dying minutes of a knockout match, that is not luck, that is the character of a squad that keeps pulling even off a short bench.
Spain punched their ticket the hardest way imaginable, with a goal against Belgium in the 88th minute. Two minutes before the match would have gone to extra time, when legs are heavy and the head is full of doubt, they found the net. It is the kind of win that puts wind in a side’s sails before its biggest match, because you know you survived the worst and you are still standing.
France reached the last four in the calmest fashion of the four, with no late drama and the look of a team that knows exactly what it is doing. That is precisely why the meeting with Spain in Dallas may be the more intriguing of the two semifinals, a clash of cold efficiency against technical control of possession.
What comes next?
The winners of these two matches go through to the final, which is scheduled for July 19. For one of these four teams it will be the crown of the whole season, for the other three the end of the road one step short of the goal. And since these are the four highest-ranked sides in the world gathered in the knockout phase, it is hard to see either semifinal having a clear favorite before the first whistle.
Dallas on Tuesday, Atlanta on Wednesday, then the wait until Sunday. What is unfolding on American stadiums these days is rarely seen, a tournament with no weak link among the last teams standing. Will the trophy end up in the hands of the European or the South American school of football, and have you already put your pick on the table?
