Two European superpowers, France and Spain, are facing off in the semi-final. The French arrive with arguably the most formidable attack at this World Cup. However, alongside that fearsome attack, the two-time world champions are also being cautious about their defense — especially with Spain boasting one of the best wingers in the world in Lamine Yamal. As a result, France has no choice but to devise a special plan to contain him.
French mastermind Didier Deschamps has come up with a “special plan” to neutralize Yamal ahead of the semi-final.
At the press conference, Deschamps was asked how France intends to reduce Lamine Yamal’s effectiveness. While acknowledging the challenge of facing the young Barcelona star one-on-one, the French coach insisted that his team also has the tools to unsettle Spain’s defense.
“Our goal will be to minimize his influence, and that of the others, on the field as much as possible. We have various strategies for that. It’s difficult to stop him in one-on-one situations, but it won’t be easy for the Spanish defenders to face our attacking stars either,” Deschamps said.
The French coach added, “We know that Spain like to keep possession and can put a lot of pressure on their opponents. One of the reasons they’ve conceded only one goal is that opposing teams haven’t been able to keep the ball at their feet for long periods. But we too have the ability to threaten our opponents by keeping the ball in our possession.”
France lost to Spain in both the Euro 2024 and 2025 Nations League semi-finals. Still, Deschamps is unwilling to frame this semi-final as a “revenge match” in any sense. “There’s no such thing as revenge in football. They won the last two matches, and they deserve credit for that. We can draw extra motivation from those matches since several of our players took part in them. But this is a completely different battle now — a direct shot at reaching the World Cup final,” he said.
Deschamps has considered Spain the main title contenders since the start of the World Cup. Even the day before France’s opening match against Senegal, he refrained from calling his own team the favorites, instead placing Spain ahead of the rest of the field.
Deschamps said, “Aside from their match against Cape Verde, Spain has proven in every other match that they are the favorites. I don’t want to add extra pressure on Luis de la Fuente and his team. Spain are excellent in both attack and defense — they’ve conceded only one goal in six matches. Luis and I both think a great deal about defense. But given that both teams have world-class stars in attack, we can expect an entertaining and eye-catching match.”
