Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
France plays Spain today. It is a World Cup semifinal game.
The game is in Arlington, Texas. It is at a big stadium called AT&T Stadium.
Both teams have not lost a single game yet. Kylian Mbappe plays for France. Lamine Yamal plays for Spain.
The team that wins will play in the World Cup final on July 19. This is only Spain's second time reaching a World Cup semifinal.
- semifinal
- A match played to decide who will compete in the final
- stadium
- A large building with seats where sports games are played
- unbeaten
- Having not lost any games so far
- final
- The last game of a competition, which decides the winner
- lineup
- The list of players chosen to start a game
- injury
- Physical harm that can stop a player from playing
- midfield
- The middle part of the field where many players control the ball
- advance
- To move forward to the next stage of a competition
Level 2 — Elementary
France and Spain, both still unbeaten at the 2026 World Cup, meet in the semifinal at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The winner will advance to the World Cup final on July 19, where it will face either England or Argentina.
France's coach, Didier Deschamps, is expected to start Kylian Mbappe up front in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Aurelien Tchouameni available again after missing two games with a muscle injury.
Spain's coach, Luis de la Fuente, sets up in a 4-3-3 formation built around Lamine Yamal in attack and Rodri and Pedri controlling the midfield. This is only Spain's second World Cup semifinal appearance, coming sixteen years after the team's first title in 2010.
- formation
- The pattern in which players are arranged on the field
- front (attacking)
- The forward area of the field where goals are scored
- coach
- The person who trains and organizes a sports team
- muscle injury
- Damage to a muscle that can prevent normal movement
- pivot (soccer)
- A central midfield player who links defense and attack
- appearance
- An instance of taking part in an event or competition
- attack (soccer)
- The players and plays focused on scoring goals
- control (the midfield)
- To dominate play in the central area of the field
Level 3 — Intermediate
France and Spain, the tournament's two remaining unbeaten sides, collide in the World Cup semifinal at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with a place in the July 19 final at stake against the winner of England and Argentina.
Didier Deschamps is projected to deploy his familiar 4-2-3-1, with Kylian Mbappe leading the line and Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, and Desire Doue operating just behind him, while Aurelien Tchouameni, though not yet fully fit after a muscle injury, is expected to reclaim his starting role in the pivot alongside Adrien Rabiot.
Luis de la Fuente's Spain counters in a 4-3-3, anchored by Rodri and Pedri in central midfield behind a front line of Lamine Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal, and Alex Baena, a system that has conceded remarkably little across the tournament.
Mbappe arrives having scored eight of France's sixteen goals across six victories, while Spain, appearing in only its second World Cup semifinal, is chasing a return to the final it won for the first and only time in 2010 under a different generation of players.
- deploy
- To arrange or position players strategically
- at stake
- At risk of being won or lost
- anchored (tactically)
- Held firmly in place as a stabilizing central presence
- concede (goals)
- To allow the opposing team to score
- front line
- The group of attacking players positioned furthest forward
- reclaim
- To get back something previously held or lost
- fully fit
- In complete physical condition to play without restriction
- generation (of players)
- A group of athletes who competed during roughly the same era
Level 4 — Advanced
France and Spain, the tournament's two remaining unbeaten sides, converge at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for a World Cup semifinal that will determine which nation advances to face the winner of England and Argentina in the July 19 final.
Didier Deschamps is projected to retain his customary 4-2-3-1 architecture, with Kylian Mbappe spearheading the attack and a supporting trio of Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, and Desire Doue arrayed behind him, while Aurelien Tchouameni, not yet fully match-fit following a muscle injury that sidelined him for two fixtures, is nonetheless expected to reclaim his pivot role alongside Adrien Rabiot ahead of the more cautious alternative, Manu Kone.
Luis de la Fuente's Spain, by contrast, deploys a 4-3-3 anchored by the Rodri-Pedri axis, a central partnership that has underpinned a defensive record conceding remarkably sparingly across the tournament, in front of an attacking trio of Lamine Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal, and Alex Baena.
The stakes are asymmetric in historical weight: Mbappe, who has scored half of France's sixteen tournament goals across six consecutive victories, seeks a result that would cement his side's status as the tournament's dominant force, whereas Spain, contesting only its second World Cup semifinal, is attempting to reprise a triumph achieved just once, in 2010, under an entirely different generation of players.
- converge
- To come together from different directions toward a common point
- architecture (tactical)
- The underlying structural design of a team's formation and strategy
- spearhead
- To lead or be the foremost element of an effort or attack
- match-fit
- Physically prepared to compete at full intensity in a game
- axis (tactical)
- A central pairing of players around whom a team's structure is built
- underpin
- To support or form the basis of something
- asymmetric
- Not equal or balanced on both sides
- reprise
- To repeat or perform again a previous achievement
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