Tuesday July 9, 2024

Never has an intriguing fight between two accomplished teams drawn so much attention as the Spanish and French in their quests for a final berth in the UEFA European Championship 2024 staged in Germany.

Tonight, France takes on Spain in an epic semi-final at Allianz Arena in Munich at 21h00.

The winner will face either Netherlands or England scheduled for tomorrow in Dortmund at the corresponding time as today’s fixture.

Until now, Spain’s sterner challenge was eliminating host-nation Germany in the quarterfinal last Friday. To fend off hard-to-defeat France, they need to be at their utmost best and clinical in front of goals.

France are the 2018 FIFA World Cup winners and 2022 finalists and deploy grit and tempo in their play. Their talisman Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick in the recent world cup, forcing the cup to be decided on penalties against Lionel Messi empowered Argentina in Qatar. For this reason, Mbappé is unstoppable on his outstanding day.

Therefore, Spain will have their hands full in containing him and compatriots of his ilk such as Ousmane Dembélé. Even so, Spain’s strength is in possession game plan and closing down opponents quickly. The Spaniards are inured in starving rivals the ball and it is a style they apply in every game and certainly will in full display tonight.

They have capable troupes in the realm of midfield maestro Rodrigo Hernández Cascante (Rodri for football enthusiast) and offensive wingers like Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal. The latter duo provide more counter play and have the knack of taking on defenders on a one-on-one basis.

Although Spain beat Germany in extra-time in the lead up to this match, France went all the way to penalties against the 2016 Euro champions Portugal. The tenacity of the team has been tested.

On the downside, Spain will be without their stalwart right back Dani Carvajal. But, after all it is said and done, the must be a victor in today’s penultimate Euro 2024 confrontation between these Europe footballing giants.