The France-Spain semi-final tonight is one for the ages. Years from now, it will come up in football conversations, becoming a point of reference, even if it does not produce much drama and ends tamely. The basics are obvious: the best attack of this World Cup, against the best defence. An unstoppable force against an immovable object. This match-up, though, also rides on subtler story arcs, a more complex rainbow.

After decades in the shadows, Spain and France both went on to become dominant forces in international football. Both were character actors that became protagonists. Each represents shifts that make football such a powerful source of culture.

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France transitioned in the late-1990s from glorious underachievers to pragmatic winners. Since 1994, French teams have acquired a reputation for winning through practical compromise and negation. It has brought success in the form of two World Cups and a European Cup. (Before that, there was only the Euro 1984 victory.)

The football world has been frustrated. France possesses the world’s greatest talent pool. It is as if it took to heart the lesson from its pugnacious neighbour Germany, which carried the stereotype of winning through negation right through the ’70s, the ’80s and the ’90s. As success ran dry for the Germans, France filled the slot. It became the team disliked by not just the opponents but all neutrals, too.

Except in World Cup 2026, France has transformed into the team that the neutrals love and the opponents fear. The Brazil of the 21st century, if you please, with a range of outstanding individual talent that operates with beautiful coordination. Didier Deschamps, manager for 14 years, is set to step down after this tournament. In his last hurrah, he is showing the world what could have been. There’s no saying which France we will see after Deschamps is gone. No saying which stereotype his successor will opt for. The world will watch eagerly.

In the other corner is Spain. Its football history can be summed up in the also-ran columns, right up to the transformation in the late-2000s. With its victory in the European Cup of 2008, Spain showed a completely new face to the world. It had the greatest array of technically proficient ball players, a lot of them from Barcelona’s academy created by Dutch football revolutionaries Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. That team won an unprecedented three international tournaments on the trot, including the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

During this time, it acquired a reputation for boring its opponents and the viewers. Spain’s outrageously skilled midfield was so adept at keeping the ball and regaining possession right after losing it, that the opponents had little opportunity to do anything. This was followed by a dramatic dip. Spain were eliminated in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup. It remained boring, but it stopped winning. A succession of short-lived managerial stints didn’t make it better.

Except when Luis de la Fuente took over in 2022. Under him, Spain retained its technical superiority and ball control. Only now, the possession was more purposeful. He added players who have a more direct approach to scoring goals. The kind of demographic shift that French and German football showed has finally come to Spain. Children of immigrants bring a fresh influx of talent in the form of Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal. There is Dani Olmo, a rare amphibian who can play both the keep-ball technical game and then pivot on a dime to a ball-carrying soloist, looking to combine with other runners.

Success returned. The 2023 UEFA Nations League title was followed by a victory at the Euro 2024. It’s a new Spain. Their midfield can still asphyxiate opponents by denying them the ball, but now they have adventurous wingers who suddenly shift to fast dribbling runs.

This surprising Spain is going to come up against a surprising France. These are the world’s best two national teams, FIFA rankings be damned. It’s not just the meeting of the greatest attack with the greatest defence, or the encounter of some of football’s most outstanding talents. It’s the contest of two teams that have rewritten their stories. That have both achieved remarkable success, and then decided that they want more. And they want it in different ways.

For the seeker of football’s purest pleasures, it doesn’t get better than this. This is the grand finale that should have been. For after this, the actual final might struggle to compete.