Spain has been dreadfully boring for most of this World Cup.
At times, there was a lack of urgency. At others, a lack of creativity. However, at no point did the squad lack talent or skill and Luis de la Fuente knew exactly when he needed to let his boys loose.
Against France, Spain followed De la Fuente’s game plan and choked out France’s incredible attacking group. Dominant in the midfield, Spain strangled the imagination from France by not giving Michael Olise an inch to work with — so much so that the Bayern Munich star retreated to the wide areas.
Rodri and Fabián Ruiz were stellar in controlling the tempo of the match and seemingly being in every passing lane that France tried to use.
Aside of taking Olise out of the game, Pau Cubarsi (the best young player of this tournament bar none), Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella, and Pedro Porro made life ******* for Kylian Mbappé, who lost more of his swagger by the minute in the game. Mbappé seemed to get more befuddled by what was going on and seemed to not accept that his team was being beaten…soundly.