"La Roja" became the third champion in the history of the Nations League and helped Gavi set the record for the youngest player to win the continental championship at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 15 days. Rodri and Laporte won their fourth title in a month, including both European championships at club and national team level and he himself also received the title of "Best Player" of these two finals.
The Nations League title cannot be compared to the Euro or World Cup titles that Spain once owned. However, this could be the fulcrum for the return of one of the "giants" of football in the old continent.
Coach De la Fuente connects and builds a new and effective image for the Spanish team. Photo: REUTERS
After nine years of focusing on youth football, Luis de la Fuente has begun to enjoy the fruits of his labors as he and his players, most of whom he trained himself, marched straight to the Nations League championship. Not many fans in Europe know about Luis de la Fuente because his playing days were only associated with mid-level teams like Bilbao, Sevilla or Alaves in La Liga, and he was never even called up to play for the Spanish national team.
Only those interested in youth football may have heard of coach Luis de la Fuente's time leading the Spanish U21 team to win the 2019 European Championship and, two years later, leading this generation of players to a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
When appointing Luis de la Fuente as head coach to replace his younger colleague Luis Enrique after Spain's failure at the 2022 World Cup, it seemed that the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) was "playing with fire". The team had failed miserably in two consecutive World Cups, but the responsibility of rebuilding was given to someone with no experience working at a high level, this is not the usual style of managers of the strongest football country in the Iberian Peninsula.
The only thing is, the game is getting more and more interesting and the "sweet fruit season" has come soon for Spanish football, exactly after only 4 matches under the new coach. "La Roja" crushed Norway without Erling Haaland in the squad with a score of 3-0 on the opening day of the Euro 2024 qualifiers. Three days later, they lost to Scotland thanks to 2 goals from Scott McTominay when the squad lacked real "killers" in attack.
With the fear of being dethroned at any time in the Nations League ranking round, coach Luis de la Fuente and the Spanish team seem to have "nothing to lose" when facing the toughest opponents on the old continent such as Italy, the Netherlands and Croatia. At this point, people are amazed at what De la Fuente has worked hard to build over the past six months.
Giving the captain's armband to Jordi Alba, who had just left Barcelona because he was too old at only 34 years old; trusting Laporte who had lost his starting position at Man City a long time ago; reviving Joselu, who was once famous at Real Madrid; giving the responsibility of the attack to "wooden leg" Alvaro Morata; or arranging for 37-year-old full-back Jesus Navas to play more than 90 minutes per match; all of De la Fuente's trust has been duly rewarded.
Not recalling veteran captain Sergio Ramos for fear of a new “separatist force” appearing, nor recalling half of the World Cup squad, who were no longer dedicated to “La Roja”, the 61-year-old coach persisted with a squad of players mostly trained by himself and achieved success beyond expectations.
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