From The Sports Desk: Spain, France meet in star

For the first time, FIFA’s top four teams have all made the World Cup semifinals, and not since 1990 has the final four been made up entirely of previous winners. Five of the tournament’s top six scorers will be in action.

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It makes for two mouth-watering matchups over the next two days full of heated rivalries and intriguing subplots. The action kicks off this afternoon in Dallas with two European powerhouses, France vs. Spain. Tomorrow, England takes on Argentina in Atlanta.

Our NBC News team will be live-blogging both games. Don’t miss out!

Les Bleus vs La Roja. Free-flowing tournament favorites versus the tournament’s meanest defense. Attacking individual flair versus an obsession with possession. Expect France vs. Spain to be a cagey but compelling clash of styles.

Spain was crowned World Cup champions for the only time in its history in 2010 but must first get past France, the 2018 winners and 2022 runners-up. The game just happens to fall on Bastille Day, as France is aiming to reach its third straight World Cup final. Will the fireworks be heard louder in Paris or Madrid tonight?

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente will be desperately hoping star winger Lamine Yamal, who turned 19 yesterday, can find the sort of electric form that helped fire La Roja to the European title two years ago. Then, Yamal scored in the semifinal against France in a 2-1 win in Munich. “It’s undoubtedly the most important match I’m ever going to play,” Yamal said.

In an exhilarating tournament in which nearly all the big stars have performed, including France’s Kylian Mbappé, who leads the Golden Boot standings with eight goals, Yamal has been unspectacular so far, registering one goal and no assists. That said, he only scored once in the run that led to Spain becoming European champions. Yamal came into the World Cup nursing a hamstring injury. Spain instead has had to rely on clutch goal-scoring substitute Mikel Merino to score late winners in its last two knockout ties.

Barcelona’s Yamal and Real Madrid’s Mbappé have faced each other 10 times during their career, with the Spaniard on the winning side on eight of these encounters. Mbappé has two other Madridistas alongside him in the French squad, in Aurélien Tchouameni and new signing Ibrahima Konaté. Intriguingly, de la Fuente didn’t name a single Real player in his World Cup squad, although left-back Marc Cucurella has since become a Los Blancos player having been signed from Chelsea.

France defender Jules Koundé knows Yamal well — they are teammates at Barcelona. However, it will be left-back Lucas Digne tasked with keeping Yamal quiet. Who wins that battle will go some way to deciding this contest.

The crashout from U.S. soccer fans over the past week has been generational. Panic regarding Christian Pulisic’s form has been a hot topic, and talks of this summer being a failure have been front and center. However, there’s not enough optimism, when there is more than enough room for it. The U.S. will be in good hands feet over the next four years if even just one of the following talented young players can join the current crop.

Goalkeeper has arguably been the one position the U.S. has failed to fill consistently since Tim Howard retired. In the ranks, though, are two incredible 20-year-old prospects in Barcelona’s Diego Kochen, who just joined Danish side Lyngby on loan, and Brentford’s Julian Eyestone.

Where the excitement truly rests, though, is in the attack. Cavan Sullivan has become well-known, but alongside the (future) Manchester City winger lie three more exciting options. New York Red Bulls teenager Julian Hall sits on nine goals in 15 appearances this MLS season, while Real Salt Lake’s 19-year-old forward Zavier Gozo has caught the interest of Aston Villa. For European football fans, all eyes are on Borussia Dortmund’s 17-year-old Mathis Albert, as he aims to follow in the footsteps of Pulisic and Gio Reyna. Here’s to 2030, U.S. fans.

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