During the World Cup qualification process, Pablo established himself alongside Puyol as first choice for Spain. Despite his own goal in the last warmup game, against Croatia, he and Puyol played in the first two group games at the finals, two victories which ensured qualification for the quarter-finals, and were rested for the third, against Saudi Arabia. Against France in the last eight, Spain took the lead via David Villa's penalty after Pablo was the victim of Lilian Thuram's "clumsy challenge from behind". France equalised in the first half, then took the lead with only a few minutes left; with Spain pushing for an equaliser, Zinedine Zidane scored a stoppage-time third. It was the first time that Pablo had played in a losing Spain eleven.