NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - Pedro Porro has turned Spain's right flank from a vacancy into a personal runway, capping a dazzling World Cup charge by helping shackle France's flying attackers and scoring a thunderbolt in Tuesday's 2-0 semi-final win in Dallas.
Two years after Marc Cucurella used Euro 2024 to leap from outsider to Spain's first-choice left back, Porro appears to be writing the sequel on the opposite side of Luis de la Fuente's defence.
With Dani Carvajal and Jesus Navas gone, Spain's right-back role looked up for grabs before the tournament. Marcos Llorente, fresh from an excellent season with Atletico Madrid, appeared well placed to claim it, but De la Fuente kept the door open for Porro.
For a while, the Spain coach rotated them. Then he stopped.
The Tottenham Hotspur full back impressed against Saudi Arabia, raised the level again against Austria and repeated the trick against Portugal.
Against France, he produced his most complete performance, containing Kylian Mbappe, Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue before sealing the win with a superb goal and being named the semi-final's MVP.
"I'm very happy with the team's attitude, from start to finish. Today we did everything we needed to do. It's a dream come true; it's something I couldn't even have imagined in my wildest dreams," Porro said.
His rise has also carried a sense of footballing symmetry.
Cucurella's Euro 2024 chance came when Alejandro Grimaldo, after shining in Xabi Alonso's Bundesliga-winning Bayer Leverkusen side, was widely expected to own the position.
Instead, Cucurella became Spain's first-choice left back, was voted the tournament's best in that role and this year signed for Real Madrid.
Now Porrohas made his own case impossible to ignore.
His defensive interventions tell part of the story, but his value also lies in the quieter details: covering space, choosing when to surge forward and giving Lamine Yamal the balance he needs on the right.
There was redemption too. Some still remembered the mistake that gifted Scotland a goal in Spain's 2-0 defeat early in De la Fuente's tenure during Euro 2024 qualifying.
Against France, Porro buried the doubts as emphatically as his finish. Tottenham, who renewed his contract during the tournament despite interest from clubs including Manchester City, may feel their timing was as sharp as his.
One final examination remains: Sunday's World Cup final against Argentina, where Porro will have the chance to turn a breakthrough tournament into something far bigger.
(Reporting by Fernando KallasEditing by Christian Radnedge)
