Deportes

The legendary boxer José Legrá, “the puma of Baracoa,” has passed away in Madrid at the age of 83, leaving memorable fights and extraordinary charm in memory. In his human legacy, he was the protagonist of the best sports anecdote one can remember: his first audience with the dictator Francisco Franco at El Pardo, where he was received, as was customary, after winning the world featherweight title in Cardiff against the local idol Howard Winstone.

France displayed military power during the parade on the Champs-Élysées on the occasion of the July 14th celebration. Just hours later, in Dallas, “the fire front” (as the press has dubbed it) was neutralized, without gunpowder, by “the Spanish Armada” (front page of Le Parisien), plunging the country, so prone to exaggerated self-esteem, into a new phase of collective depression.

Thousands of football fans gathered this Sunday at the Zócalo in Mexico City to exchange 2026 World Cup stickers in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record for simultaneous sticker swapping.

I experienced a déjà-vu this weekend when Lionel Scaloni tried to downplay the historical tension of the semifinal between Argentina and England. I had a flashback to an interview I did 40 years ago with Diego Maradona before another Argentina-England in a World Cup, the one with “the hand…

At many times England plays with two center forwards. Tuchel has pushed Jude Bellingham so far forward that his presence confuses the defenses, because he comes in where only Harry Kane is expected. Both have taken advantage of that confusion to become one of the most prolific pairs in a World Cup.

There are matches that smell of history, that exude rivalry, that are destined to become myths and that will be forever embedded in individual and collective memory. Today’s England-Argentina semifinal in Atlanta is not just another match. Neither for one side nor the other because it directly appeals to their identity. For both, it is the challenge of the great symbol. For the Albiceleste, facing the English refers to avenging national and nationalist wounds, and that is how they sing it – fans and players, by the way. For the Three Lions, the memory of what happened in 1986 at the Azteca is an affront, because of the cheating on the first goal, because of the humiliation of the second.

Didier Deschamps appeared visibly disappointed after France’s defeat against Spain (0-2) in the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup. The French coach regretted his team’s elimination, acknowledged the superiority of the Spanish team, and, although he avoided focusing his speech on the refereeing, hinted at his displeasure over several decisions made during the match.

Spain is just one match away from lifting the World Cup for the second time in its history after defeating France with overwhelming superiority in the semifinals. When the national team plays, there is an opinion column by Mariano Rajoy, and this time the attention to the words of the former Prime Minister was at its highest after he caused a great political stir in the previous one by talking about a French team that plays “without French players.”

Overflowing joy from the Kings, Princess Leonor, and Infanta Sofía who have followed the match from a hotel in Barcelona in which Spain, after beating France 2-0, qualified to play in the final of the World Cup. As promised, the King will be next Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, near New York, where the Spanish team hopes to defend the championship title they won in 2010 at the South Africa World Cup, in a match they will play against the winner of Argentina-England taking place this Wednesday.

Current European champion. Reigning Olympic champion. Runner-up of the Nations League, in whose previous edition they had won the title. And World Cup finalist. Lamine Yamal was right when he said that if anyone should be afraid, it was France. Because of that trophy case full of successes in the last four years and because of the direct confrontations against the French team, defeated for the third consecutive time by their worst enemy. The bleu team has a handful of stars, but Spain, as a whole, intimidates, scares, and overwhelms. They have now gone 37 matches unbeaten, matching the all-time record held by Italy. Luis de la Fuente and Lamine Yamal’s team is a competitive beast that sent the 2018 champion and 2022 runner-up to third and fourth place. Luis de la Fuente’s team, which turns everything it touches into gold, is the ogre of the championship. The Spanish team dominates the international stage like no other. A stage on which they have nothing to envy anyone, neither with the ball nor without it. On the contrary.