France coach Didier Deschamps insisted he still sees Spain as World Cup favourites on Monday (July 13, 2026) ahead of Les Bleus’ blockbuster semi-final against the European champions.

France take on Spain at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday (July 14, 2026) in a match widely seen as a collision of the best two teams in the tournament.

While Deschamps’ side have lit up the World Cup with a string of scintillating performances, Spain’s campaign has built momentum gradually following a shock 0-0 draw against minnows Cape Verde in their opening game.

Deschamps, though, maintains that France — beaten by Spain in their last two meetings — will be the underdog on Tuesday (July 14).

“Forget about the first game against Cape Verde,” Deschamps said of Spain’s campaign. “Ever since then Spain have confirmed that they are the favourites.

“I don’t want to add extra pressure to [Spain coach] Luis [de la Fuente] and their team — he knows very well that people are expecting great things of Spain.

“But Spain can attack well, and they can defend very well. They’ve only conceded one goal in the last six or seven matches.”

Spain coach De la Fuente meanwhile smiled when asked for his response to Deschamps’ comments at an eve-of-game press conference.

“Since the beginning, I’ve always said that the fact that people say we’re favourites or not doesn’t mean anything,” De la Fuente told reporters. “It doesn’t. It’s not decisive.”

“We are two great national teams facing each other, just as there are two great national teams facing each other in the other semi-final,” De la Fuente added, stressing that his team was comfortable living with the pressure to succeed.

“Regardless of whether we’re favorites or not, it doesn’t mean create additional pressure,” he said. “We have that pressure anyway. We want to do well for our country.”

Deschamps meanwhile believes Tuesday’s (July 14) game has all the makings of a classic.

“With the quality of the two teams offensively, I think we could think that is going to be a spectacular game,” he said.

Deschamps is also not overly concerned by the threat posed by Spain winger Lamine Yamal, who scored in La Roja’s victories over France in the European Championship semi-final in 2024 and the UEFA Nations League last year.

“We know the strength of the opposing team. We have our own strengths,” Deschamps said.

“Have I studied Yamal and his assets? Yes, he’s one of the players that can really make a difference on the pitch.

“And all opponents should try to limit the strength of the other team, but we have many solutions.

“When it comes to a one-on-ones it could be tough. But having a one-on-one against some of my players is not an easy task either.”

Deschamps confirmed that France captain Kylian Mbappe, who left the quarter-final win over Morocco late in the second half after taking a knock, was “100%” fit for the semi-final.

Both Argentina and Egypt needed 120 draining minutes to survive their opening knockout ties and had barely four days to recover before meeting for a place in the World Cup quarterfinals.

For Argentina, that short turnaround has come with a little more anxiety after Lionel Scaloni’s side, so smooth through the group stage, came within minutes of a seismic upset before edging Cabo Verde 3-2 after extra-time. Egypt, meanwhile, is here after beating Australia 4-2 (1-1 after extra-time) on penalties.

Scaloni did not hide his frustration with the scheduling after the win in Miami. “Now to rest. I don’t know how the World Cup is made but we had six days, and now we have three and a half. When you need the rest the most, you have the least.”

The holders looked vulnerable for the first time against Cabo Verde, unable to control the game as they had in the group stage and was repeatedly exposed in transition, even though Lionel Messi still found time to score his 20th World Cup goal.

The Latin American team’s discomfort with physicality will encourage Hossam Hassan’s Egypt, which has been built on defensive discipline and quick breaks through Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush.

“We aren’t focusing on Messi,” assistant coach Ibrahim Hassan said. “They might have Messi, but we have Mohamed Salah, and we have 26 Messis of our own.”

The tactical contrast is clear. Argentina will try to reassert midfield control and might bring in Leandro Paredes to bolster the inner channels and support Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister.

Egypt will sit in a compact block and wait for moments to release Salah and Marmoush into the spaces, following the blueprint Cabo Verde found. Ahmed El Fotouh, Karim Hafez and Mohamed Abdelmonem are racing against time to recover from knocks, while Argentina might bring back Nicolas Tagliafico to the left side of the defence ahead of Facundo Medina.

Scaloni is expected to keep faith with the same core, but after 120 exhausting minutes, Atlanta may reveal whether Friday was merely a stumble or the first real crack in the champions’ defence.

Match starts at 9.30 p.m. IST

Spain and Portugal will drag a year’s worth of ‌Iberian needle into the Texas heat on Monday (July 6, 2026), when the World Cup round of ​16 serves up a rematch of last year’s Nations League final and a ⁠clash of generations between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lamine Yamal.

Also read | FIFA World Cup 2026: Cristiano Ronaldo says 6th World Cup with Portugal will be his last

Portugal won that final on penalties after a 2-2 draw, spoiling Spain’s attempt to defend their title and add another trophy to the European Championship crown they had ‌claimed a year earlier.

For Luis de la Fuente’s side, it remains the one blot on an otherwise gleaming three-year run that began with the 2023 Nations League ‌title and has now stretched to 34 matches unbeaten.

Spain, smooth on the ball, ruthless in ‌exploiting ⁠space and miserly at the back, have not conceded a World Cup goal ⁠since their group match against Japan at Qatar 2022. Yet Portugal are no ordinary obstacle, especially with a midfield of Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes capable of going toe-to-toe with Spain’s technicians. In last year’s Nations League final, ​Portugal did not pretend they were going ‌to out-glitter Spain. They were drilled, compact and stubborn, refusing the open, attacking approach France had tried before being beaten by Spain in a nine-goal thriller in the semi-finals.

They also had Nuno Mendes, whose evening became a personal duel with Spain’s right side. The Paris St ‌Germain full back was stretched repeatedly, yet still found the energy to disrupt Spain ​and hurt them going forward.

He is likely to be handed a similar double shift on Monday (July 6, 2026): smother Lamine’s invention and charge upfield whenever Portugal get the ⁠chance.

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Yamal remains Spain’s headline act, a teenage winger playing with the assurance of someone who treats pressure as a mild inconvenience.

But Spain are far more than one prodigy.

Their passing patterns are slick, their ‌attacking movement sharp and their defensive structure has become one of the tournament’s most reliable foundations.

“We need to keep growing, but we’re not afraid of anyone,” Lamine told reporters after Spain’s 3-0 win over Austria.

Portugal arrive in less serene condition. They struggled badly against Croatia to reach the last 16 and had endured problems in the group stage, finishing second behind Colombia after two draws.

Spain, by contrast, have grown into the tournament since beginning with a goalless draw against Cape ‌Verde.

Then there is Ronaldo, still there, still defiant, still demanding attention even as the pitch he commands has shrunk. ​The explosive force of old may have dimmed, but he remains dangerous inside the box, as Spain discovered when he converted a loose ball to make it ⁠2-2 in the Nations League final and send the match towards extra time.

When Ronaldo was beginning his ⁠quest for 1,000 career goals, Yamal was nearly a baby. On Monday (July 6), they meet in a knockout match where one generation may shove another towards the exit.

Ronaldo’s sister has ‌said he will leave the national team after the World Cup, meaning every Portugal match could now be his last. For two sides who arrived among the favourites to lift ​the trophy, a round-of-16 exit would feel brutally early.