ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé and France haven’t trailed at all at this year's World Cup. Neither has Spain with teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and clutch goal-scoring substitute Mikel Merino.
Only one of those teams can make it to the final.
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France's Kylian Mbappe (10) celebrates scoring the opening goal during the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Spain's Mikel Merino (6) celebrates after their win in the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
France head coach Didier Deschamps smiles after hugging France's Kylian Mbappe (10) after France defeated Morocco in the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Spain's Lamine Yamal waves as he walks off the pitch after the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
France's Kylian Mbappe (10) celebrates after winning the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
France and Spain are both playing at their 17th World Cup, but have met only once previously on soccer’s biggest stage. They play Tuesday at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in the first of two powerhouse semifinal matches.
After entering this tournament as FIFA’s top-ranked team, France has outscored its opponents 14-2. Mbappé, the 2022 Golden Boot winner, has eight goals to match Lionel Messi for the scoring lead this time, and is one behind the Argentina captain’s career record of 21 at the World Cup.
“We are focused,” France midfielder Adrien Rabiot said. “We are confident, of course, with the course we have done so far, and we have to be, but always with this humility that has characterized us since the beginning of the competition.”
The 27-year-old Mbappé has 20 goals in his 20 World Cup matches, including one in the 2018 win over Croatia when he joined Pele as the only teenagers to score in a World Cup final. And the star striker for Les Bleus had said he is fine despite exiting in the 77th minute of their 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco after scoring a goal.
Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, has already been part of two semifinal wins with Spain over France. He was just days shy of his 17th birthday when he scored in a 2-1 win during the 2024 European Championship semifinals, and Spain then won 5-4 in Nations League play last year.
“I believe if France has to fear anyone, it should be us, in my opinion,” Yamal said after Spain's quarterfinal victory over Belgium. “We were the ones that knocked them out before.”
The teen has only one goal while putting 10 shots on target after coming into this World Cup still nursing a left hamstring issue that forced him to miss the final weeks of the season for Spanish club Barcelona.
France defender Jules Koundé also plays for Barcelona, so he knows Yamal well and didn't feel disrespected by those comments.
“For me he is a sign of confidence. He always does it with (Barcelona). He trusts a lot in his virtues, in the virtues of the team where he plays,” Koundé said in translated remarks. “So I see nothing as an extra motivation for him and that’s it, that’s all.”
Spain has outscored opponents 10-1 since a stunning scoreless draw against surprising Cape Verde to open group play, but La Roja needed late decisive goals from Merino after he entered the last two games as a second-half substitute. All while goaltender Unai Simón set a World Cup record of 650 minutes without allowing a goal until Belgium found the net in the 41st minute of their quarterfinal game.
“I think that from the first game until today, the team needed to catch the rhythm, we had been without seeing each other for a long time,” Spain midfielder Alex Baena said, adding that with more games and practices “the better the team has been.”
Merino scored in the 88th minute for that 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday. That came after the Arsenal forward’s goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time for the 1-0 win over Portugal in the round of 16 at the same stadium where Spain's semifinal match will be played.
This is the first World Cup since 1990 that each of the final four teams are former champions.
Messi and defending champion Argentina, which beat France for the title in 2022, play England in the other semifinal match Wednesday in Atlanta.
The championship match is Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the river from New York City. A third-place game will be played Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
In their only previous World Cup meeting, France beat Spain 3-1 in a round of 16 game at the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Both teams have won the World Cup since then. Spain claimed its only title in 2010, and France won its second World Cup in 2018.
France, which will be playing on its country's Bastille Day national holiday, is trying to join five-time champion Brazil and four-time winner Germany as the only teams to make three consecutive World Cup finals. Brazil did it in 1994, 1998 and 2002 — winning two titles and losing to host France in the middle of that run. Germany’s championship in 1990 came after being runner-up in the previous two World Cups — all playing as West Germany at the time.
Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout in 2022 after playing to a 3-3 draw.
This is France's seventh semifinal appearance, its fifth in the last eight World Cups. Spain's only other semifinals were in 1950 and then 2010 on the way to the title.
AT&T Stadium in North Texas will be hosting its tournament-high ninth game, and in that one-month run there have been some soccer superstar moments in the building that has hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games for football and men's basketball.
Messi scored three goals in Argentina's two group games, the first on June 22 when after missing a penalty kick he broke the World Cup career scoring mark with the first of his two goals in a 2-0 win over Austria. He added another goal as a late substitute in the group finale June 27 against Jordan.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old superstar from Portugal, finished his sixth and final World Cup in the 1-0 round of 16 loss to Spain on July 6.
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
France's Kylian Mbappe (10) celebrates scoring the opening goal during the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Spain's Mikel Merino (6) celebrates after their win in the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
France head coach Didier Deschamps smiles after hugging France's Kylian Mbappe (10) after France defeated Morocco in the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Spain's Lamine Yamal waves as he walks off the pitch after the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
France's Kylian Mbappe (10) celebrates after winning the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — The person killed by ICE officers in a Maine shooting Monday was not the target of the warrant the officers were executing, Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Mullin told him.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — A federal immigration officer fatally shot a motorist in Maine on Monday, the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used deadly force. It is at least the ninth such killing since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown.
Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed as a 26-year-old native of Colombia.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers who were pursuing him for deportation in Biddeford, a coastal city of about 23,000 people roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.
“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said.
The Maine attorney general’s office, which is investigating along with the FBI and other agencies, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent. The man was the target of an enforcement operation related to a final order of removal, the office said, and the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.
Messages seeking comment were left for ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a “pop, pop, pop” sound and saw a small car “turned 90 degrees to the curb” with an SUV behind it. The driver was wounded and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it again, Boucher said.
“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said, getting choked up. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop’ — clearly heard him say that.”
Boucher said he saw an ICE officer bring a medical bag to where the man was lying before an ambulance and fire truck arrived. At one point, Boucher said, the agent who shot the man walked close to him.
“I was emotional and I just let him have it, and he looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect," Boucher said. "I don’t remember his exact words.”
Two advocacy groups, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente!, said the man who was killed was authorized to work in the U.S. and had a Social Security number.
After the shooting, his family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, but they aren't ready to speak publicly about the shooting, said the group's executive director, Mufalo Chitam.
Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.
“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes told the AP as she held a piece of cardboard with “No ICE Stop ICE” written on it. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”
The Colombian Embassy said it is in contact with U.S. authorities and “working to formally confirm the individual’s identity and nationality.”
Cory Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the scene, told the AP that security cameras at the business captured footage of the man’s car rolling into the intersection after shots were fired. Other images from the scene showed the car going in circles and bullet holes in its windshield.
He said Maine State Police asked that he not release the footage publicly.
The agents involved in the shooting didn’t have body-worn cameras, King said.
“The question is, what did he do with his vehicle," King said. “Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?
"That’s what this investigation is all about and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible.”
Dozens of demonstrators critical of ICE and President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown gathered in Biddeford within hours of the shooting.
Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.
“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” said Goodman, who was wearing a shirt that said “ICE is best when crushed.”
Police blocked access to the shooting scene, which is in a neighborhood of mostly multifamily homes, churches and businesses. Several protesters stood nearby, with some holding signs condemning ICE's presence in the community and state.
“We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,” Chitam said. “How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”
Monday’s killing was at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since Trump returned to office 18 months ago.
On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.
The shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.
The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests are surging. The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.
“More than anything else, I want to know, ‘Why are you in Maine?’" Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a video on social media.
ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which prompted several protests.
The Homeland Security Department named the operation “Catch of the Day,” an apparent play on Maine’s seafood industry, like it did for “Metro Surge” in Minnesota and “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
Immigration officials said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.
A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes" including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.”
Court records show that while some had felony convictions, others had unresolved immigration proceedings or had been arrested but never convicted of a crime.
ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the University of California, Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP.
About 45% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data show.
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Cory Poulin’s first name.
Willingham reported from Boston and Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York, Aaron Kessler in Washington and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Blood is seen on the pavement near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Frances Mercanti-Anthony, from Bristol, Maine, stands near the scene where blood is seen on the pavement after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Protesters gather at a park near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Eisha Khan speaks at a rally of protesters near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A vehicle with a damaged window is transported away from the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Protesters gather near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A vehicle is transported on a flatbed near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Biddeford City Councilor Abigail Woods hugs an unidentified constituent during an impromptu protest near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
An FBI official places an evidence card where a man was reportedly killed in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP)
The scene on Pool Street where a man was reportedly killed in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP)
People stand near the scene as police block a road after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Biddeford, Maine, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)
Police block a road after a shooting in Biddeford, Maine, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)
This image taken from video provided by WMTW shows police on the scene after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (WMTW via AP)
This image taken from video provided by WMTW shows police and FBI agents on the scene after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (WMTW via AP)
FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge in New York, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
