How De la Fuente's Spain are closing in on greatness
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- Luis de la Fuente has lost just three times since taking over as Spain boss in January 2023 and is on a 35-game unbeaten run as his side bids to become only the fourth team to hold both the World Cup and European Championship crowns at the same time — after Spain's own 2010 squad, France in 2000, and West Germany in 1974.
- Spain face Belgium in the World Cup quarter-final on Friday, with France waiting in the semi-finals for the winners.
- A member of Portugal's staff told the source that Spain are "the easiest team to analyse" but "the hardest to beat" after La Roja knocked Portugal out in the last 16.
- De la Fuente described managing Lamine Yamal as one of his most delicate tasks, saying he handles it by "staying calm and giving him confidence" — and called the Portugal match the most important of Yamal's career for his work off the ball rather than his dazzling on it.
- De la Fuente called Mikel Oyarzabal "one of the five best centre-forwards in the world," saying the striker "should have been recognised" globally for a long time.
- De la Fuente's coaching philosophy centers on a single conviction: "football is a team sport built by good people" — players who are generous, supportive, selfless, disciplined, and willing to sacrifice for the collective.
Why it matters: Spain's path to a historic World Cup-Euros double runs through Belgium on Friday and likely France next, with no margin for error in a two-game knockout swing. De la Fuente's 35-game unbeaten run — built on a decade of youth-level work with these players — is what separates this Spain from prior pretenders to the throne, and the Belgium-France path offers no soft landing.
