DALLAS, Texas — When Spain steps onto the pitch Tuesday for their World Cup semi-final showdown against France, they won’t be sitting back and bracing for impact. Instead, their strategy is built around controlling the ball, setting the tempo, and forcing France to play defense.
Winger Alex Baena acknowledged that France’s attacking lineup — featuring Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele, and either Desire Doue or Bradley Barcola — is one of the most dangerous in the tournament. But he made clear that Spain has no intention of playing scared.
“The four up front are having a great tournament and we will have to keep an eye on them. But we will try to make them watch us more than we watch them,” Baena told reporters Monday.
“Our strength is having the ball, having a lot of possession to attack and to make sure they attack us as little as possible. Hopefully, tomorrow it will be like that too,” he added.
That philosophy mirrors how Spain handled France in both the European Championship and Nations League semi-finals — two matches Spain won. But Baena cautioned against leaning too heavily on past results.
“It is true that we come from two matches in which we beat them, and that suited us, but every match is a world of its own,” he said. “They are having a spectacular tournament.”
Behind the tactical talk is another storyline: Spain’s travel schedule heading into this semi-final has been far more demanding than France’s. While France based themselves in Boston throughout the tournament and are playing their first match outside the Eastern Time zone, Spain set up camp in Chattanooga, Tennessee during the group stage — a city that hosted no World Cup games — and was forced to travel across three different time zones for their matches. In total, Spain has covered roughly 16,000 kilometers more than France.
Full back Pedro Porro tried to brush off any concerns about exhaustion.
“From the outside you see it, but in our day-to-day life we travel up and down and we don’t see the kilometers we do,” Porro said. “We have been able to recover for this match.”
Baena was more candid about the wear and tear.
“It is true that we are a little tired from so much travel,” he said. “We have travelled much more and done more kilometers than them and, in the end, when you get close to the end, you notice it a bit.”
Still, Baena said the team’s energy and motivation remain high heading into one of the biggest matches of the tournament.
“But I think we are all fine, with a lot of excitement and a lot of desire. It is respect for one of the best teams in the tournament and in the world,” he said. “We hope it will be a very, very even match and that it will be decided by small details.”
