Early morning of June 6, Spain entered the final of the Nations League 2024-2025 with a crazy 5-4 victory over France in the second semi-final.
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| Spain players celebrate after beating France in the Nations League. Source: Getty Images |
This result helps Spain make history as the team that has reached the Nations League final the most times in history with 3 times. In the previous two times, "The Bulls" won the championship in 2023 and were runners-up in 2021.
The final opponent of coach Luis de la Fuente and his team on the journey to conquer the Nations League title this season is Portugal.
Portugal had previously qualified for the final after a 2-1 comeback win over hosts Germany thanks to the brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Spain did not enter cautiously with reasonable play and took a 2-0 lead in the first half with goals from Nico Williams and Merino.
In the second half, Spain continued to impress with two consecutive goals from Lamine Yamal and Pedri to lead France 4-0 after 55 minutes.
Kylian Mbappe rekindled France's faint hope when he successfully executed a penalty kick in the 59th minute, shortening the score to 1-4.
Eight minutes later, Yamal restored Spain's advantage with his trademark left-footed strike, extending the lead to 5-1.
Trailing by 4 goals, France still tried to play and had 3 consecutive goals from Rayan Cherki, Randal Kolo Muani and an own goal from Dani Vivian.
However, the remaining time was too little for France to create a comeback, thereby accepting a final defeat of 4-5 against Spain.
* 10/48 places to attend the 2026 World Cup have officially been taken after the penultimate round of the third qualifying round in Asia ended.
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| Uzbekistan qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Source: FIFA |
Uzbekistan, South Korea and Jordan become the latest names to join the biggest football festival on the planet next year.
In Group A, the highlight match between the two competitors UAE and Uzbekistan at Al Nahyan Stadium ended in a 0-0 draw. This result was enough to help Uzbekistan officially secure a place in North America.
After 9 matches, Uzbekistan has 18 points, 4 points more than UAE while the third qualifying round of Asia has only 1 more match to end.
This is also the first time in history that the Uzbekistan team has participated in a World Cup.
Not long after Uzbekistan completed their goal, South Korea and Jordan also brought the race for tickets in Group B to an end.
In the final round of Group B, South Korea defeated Iraq 2-0 thanks to goals from Kim Jin-Gyu and Oh Hyeon-Gyu. Meanwhile, Jordan easily defeated Oman 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Ali Olwan.
With this result, South Korea has 19 points, Jordan has 16 points, 4 points ahead of its competitor Iraq. South Korea has a chance to close the qualifying round at the top of Group B when it only has to face the weakest team in the group, Kuwait, in the final round.
Like Uzbekistan, this is also the first time Jordan has qualified for a World Cup in history.
Thus, Asia has officially determined the 5 teams that have won tickets to the 2026 World Cup from the third qualifying round, including Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea and Jordan.
Australia are favourites to secure the sixth spot after a dramatic 1-0 win over Japan in Group C.
The Australian team currently has 16 points, 3 more than Saudi Arabia and has a superior goal difference (+8 compared to 0).
In the final match of Group C, Australia will face Saudi Arabia directly and they just need not to lose too badly to complete their goal. However, if they lose 0-5, Australia will have to watch bitterly as Saudi Arabia wins a direct ticket to the 2026 World Cup.
As of now, the 2026 World Cup finals have determined 10 teams including the US, Mexico, Canada (co-hosts), Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea and Jordan (Asia), Argentina (South America) and New Zealand (Oceania).
Source: https://baophuyen.vn/the-thao/202506/danh-bai-phap-tay-ban-nha-vao-chung-ket-nations-league-027201f/
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