France has been the dominant team of the 2026 World Cup, and even a meeting with Spain won’t prevent it from being favored. Les Bleus are the favorites to beat their European neighbors in Tuesday’s semifinal.France is -145 to advance on BetMGM, with Spain at +115. FanDuel has odds at -144 for France and +118 for Spain. That puts the matchup at roughly 55-45 in France’s favor. Both teams are plus-money to win in regulation. It’s close, but France is getting the edge.Are Spain as good as France?Jon MackenzieFrance-SpainTime: Tuesday, 3 p.m. ETTV: Fox (English), Telemundo (Spanish)Venue: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TexasThis World Cup has featured exciting matches, surprises and great storylines, but there’s nothing quite like a meeting of traditional powers in a big game. France is seeking its third straight World Cup final while Spain is hoping to follow up its Euro 2024 triumph with a World Cup trophy.France is the scoring machine that has looked like an all-time great team. Spain is the ball-dominant possession master.
Spain was the pre-tournament favorite. Since the first round of group matches took place, France has taken that mantle.This meeting could be fit for a final, but instead, these teams will play for a spot in it.The French attack is led by Kylian Mbappe, who has eight goals and three assists, but also features world-class players in Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise. You can’t double-team one of them without giving the others space. That’s a big reason France is thriving with 16 goals in six matches and is the only team to win every game inside 90 minutes.Are Mbappe & Dembele the deadliest World Cup duo?Liam TwomeyWhile the French attack looks unstoppable, Spain’s defense has looked nearly impenetrable. Spain has given up only one goal at this tournament, which came in the 2-1 quarterfinal win against Belgium.If anyone can stop France from scoring a load of goals, it would be Spain because of its ability to control possession. You don’t have to worry about defending Mbappe, Dembélé and Olise if they don’t have the ball. That’s not to say Spain will have 70 percent or more of the possession, but keeping the ball away from Les Bleus seems the best way to limit them.Spain has won the last two meetings with France. La Roja won a Euro 2024 semifinal 2-1 with goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo after Randal Kolo Muani gave France an early lead. A year later, Spain beat France 5-4 in a UEFA Nations League semifinal. In that match, Spain led 4-0 before France scored some late goals that almost made it interesting. Yamal scored twice, and Nico Williams also got in on the scoring.Williams subbed on in Friday’s win against Belgium, and Yamal had arguably his best game of the tournament. Both are good signs for Spain: La Roja will need them to play well to beat France.Despite that 5-4 game last year, under 2.5 goals in regulation is still favored at -122 on FanDuel. The over is even money. Semifinals tend to be tight affairs, and Spain has not had many high-scoring matches in this tournament.
