By Graham RuthvenYou can’t miss Marc Cucurella. It’s the Sideshow Bob hair. Not only this, though, the 27-year-old has been one of Spain’s best, and most important, players at the 2026 World Cup, giving the European champions a much-needed dimension that they otherwise would have lacked.Two years ago at Euro 2024, Spain had Lamine Yamal on one side and Nico Williams on the other. Between the pair, Spain had two direct threats. They stretched the pitch and provided a funnel into the final third, giving Luis de la Fuente the sort of attacking thrust Spain had desperately missed in the Luis Enrique era.Both Williams and Yamal are in Spain’s World Cup squad. The former, however, is struggling for form and fitness after a disappointing season at club level and the latter is still recovering from a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the final two months of Barcelona’s title-winning campaign.To compensate for the general absence of Williams on the left side, de la Fuente has emboldened Cucurella to get forward. He has been a key part of Spain’s attacking approach at the 2026 World Cup, knifing through opposition backlines with his bold and frequent runs to the byline.Cucurella’s role on the left wing is very different to the one Williams had at Euro 2024. While Williams was harnessed for his dribbling ability, it’s Cucurella’s runs that make him dangerous. Most commonly, Spain will look for the 27-year-old with a quick switch or a ball to the back post where Cucurella can crash the box. He’s a chaos merchant.Cucurella’s passing numbers at the World CupNo Spain player has created more Big Chances at the 2026 World Cup than Cucurella who has contributed two assists. While Spain have been criticised for a lack of overall creativity at the tournament, Cucurella has certainly done his job. The European champions have relied on him for attacking invention.Tuesday’s semi-final against France will be Spain’s biggest test so far. Kylian Mbappé and co. have caught the imagination by producing a series of exhilarating attacking performances that have prompted many to predict red, white and blue ticker tape will fall from the sky when the World Cup trophy is lifted on July 19th.Until now, Cucurella has largely been focused on driving Spain forward. Against France, though, a greater focus will be placed on his defensive performance such is the strength of the forward line he’ll be up against. Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise, both of whom shade to the right wing, will test Cucurella.Spain have had the better of France in their most recent meetings. Indeed, de la Fuente’s side edged a nine-goal thriller against Les Bleus in the Nations League after Spain had swept past the same opponents in the Euro 2024 semi-finals on their way to becoming European champions.Cucurella’s defensive numbers at the World Cup“We are the only ones to have beaten them twice in a row, but this third match will be very different,” de la Fuente said after the victory over Belgium which set up Tuesday’s encounter against France in Dallas. “These are two very high-level teams who are going to face each other.”Against France, Spain will likely control the majority of possession. While de la Fuente’s approach has evolved Spain’s approach beyond the tedium of the Enrique era, injecting some much-needed directness, their playing style is still very much built on the idea of keeping the ball.This is largely why Spain boast the best defensive record of any team still left in the 2026 World Cup. The goal they conceded against Belgium in the quarter-finals was their first of the entire tournament having kept clean sheets against Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Austria and Portugal. If you have the ball, the opposition can’t score.France, however, will pose a greater threat in quick transition than any other team Spain have faced at the 2026 World Cup so far. Didier Deschamps could revert to his default mindset to set up his team to play with a deep line of confrontation, both to make life difficult for Spain’s attack, but also to open up space for the counter-attack.Pau Cubarsí boasts recovery speed to cover a lot of ground while Unai Simón is always quick off his line. Cucurella, however, will have to be as alert as anyone and could find it tougher to get forward to support Spain’s attack if France’s fearsome attack pins him back inside his own half.Spain boast their own collection of superstars. Rodri is a Ballon d’Or winner. Pedri is the new Andrés Iniesta. Yamal might be the new Messi. Cucurella, however, deserves to be highlighted alongside such esteemed company as a player who could make the difference for them in a World Cup semi-final.(Cover image from IMAGO)You can follow every game from the World Cup on FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage, including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.Add FotMob as a preferred news source on Google by clicking – here.