Spain – France

Spain and France are unlikely to play pragmatically

On Thursday 5 June, the Spanish national team will play at home against France in the second semi-final of the Nations League. The reigning European champions are the favourites, but the match is unlikely to be played with a big advantage for either side. Spain had earlier not without adventures passed the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. The Spanish managed to concede five goals in two matches. Obviously, the mood for the Nations League is not too serious. Head coach Luis de la Fuente is trying to update the squad. Now there are enough changes in the application. For example, Samu Agehova and Dean Huysen have been added to the final list. At the same time, the leaders are all also in place, with the exception of Rodri. The key midfielder is recovering from injury. This is a definite loss for the national team. Rodri added intelligence and composure to the Red Fury's reactive attacks. Spain now has an obvious trend towards open football. The team is trying to act spectacularly. In four matches in a row there was a bet on the exchange of goals. France is preparing to see off Didier Deschamps. The team has won the Nations League with the coach before. The French almost went down in the quarter-finals: it was a very tough match against Croatia. They only managed to go through in a penalty shootout. France is not even close to stability. For example, before the Croatians, they managed not to beat Israel. Didier Deschamps has no radical changes in the squad. The attack looks very powerful by name: there will be Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Inter forward Marcus Thuram and one of Bayern's best players Michael Oliseh. France, on the other hand, have been more cautious in their recent matches. Just more often than not, there is a bet that one team will not score. This has been the case in three out of four meetings. The last face-to-face meetings between the national teams were not very revealing. Spain won at the Euros - 2:1. Then it was just a miracle goal scored by Lamine Yamal. And in the Nations League of 2021, the French won with the same score 2:1. The semi-final will be played in Germany, which will not have home-field advantage. We are looking at a high-scoring encounter, and it is possible that the coaches will surprise with their line-up choices. Still, it will be hard for many players to reorganise. For example, PSG's leaders are celebrating their Champions League victory. Spain have a certain advantage here. Their clubs did not participate in the decisive stages of the main European cups, and the championship ended in economy mode. Interestingly, bookmakers predict cautious football: the odds on the total of less than 2.5 are only 1.66. It is doubtful that pragmatism will prevail.