Soulful Showdown: Spain vs. France Euro 2024 Semifinal Preview
La Roja have reached the Allianz Arena having barged doors open and then stormed through with laughter, music, joie de vivre and the kind of follow the band, there's going to be a party somewhere spirit that makes them (with the noble exception of Germany) the only team at the tournament anywhere near as colourful, uplifting and worth watching, as the various fan marches have shown over these last few weeks.
France have played uninspired, joy-free, stingy and risk-averse stuff which, were you an alien who'd just arrived from a far-flung corner of the universe, would have you asking locals in Germany: Tell me about this NFL you speak of... or basketball, or rugby, or tennis or chess or anything except this excruciating soccer-thing I've been watching!
If you're French, if you once suffered terrible sunburn on a Spanish holiday or, I suppose, if you stand to gain a couple of bucks by winning the office sweepstakes, then I can just about forgive you quietly crossing your fingers for Les Bleus to sneak this, in their current style, with a lucky shot deflected in off one of the floodlights. Otherwise anyone who takes joy in sport played with vivacity, daring, risk, ambition or, heaven help us, a smile of pleasure on the combatants' faces needs to be seriously rooting for Spain. If Luis de la Fuente's reigning Nations League champions can conquer the tournament, they would edge ahead of Germany as the tournament's all-time winners.
Let me explain the stark language I've used.
While France might well start this tie as slight favourites -- partly because of their extraordinarily competitive attitude and tournament results over the past 26 years, and partly because Spain are badly hurt by losing three starters in the previous round -- there's a gulf between how these two sides have performed in reaching the gateway to the final.
Spain is Euro 2024's joint-top scorers, with 11, while France hasn't hit the net from anything other than a penalty or own goal, scoring just three times in their five matches. La Roja has won all five outings so far; France has two wins and three draws. Spain has had 102 attempts at goal with 35 on target; France's numbers are 89 and 21 respectively.
It raises the question: are tournaments only for winning and nothing else? No joy, no thrills, no adventure, no verve or sense of sweeping the opposition aside to bring win new admirers for the sport?
My point is that if Spain can shrug off the loss of Dani Carvajal, Robin Le Normand and Pedri -- horrible absences to deal with -- and somehow beat France despite having several important footballers who could barely walk because of cramp and tiredness in Stuttgart on Friday night, then it'll be an advert for the idea that you can win the big tournaments while playing with flair, attacking vivacity and commitment to entertainment.
It will say you made a mistake to some of the coaches and players who've been here in Germany but departed without really going for it. You should play on the front foot next time and play to win, not to sneak over the line.
