“When you have the ball, the opponent can’t hurt you.” In that phrase, Luis de la Fuente sums up the idea that has made Spain the most solid team in the World Cup. It doesn’t only involve the defenses, but starts with the forward’s pressure, always Oyarzabal, to provoke the opponent’s losses and dominate the game. That’s how Spain has reached the final with only one goal conceded, the one scored by the Belgian De Ketelaere in the quarterfinals. Not even when the national team lifted the first World Cup in South Africa did it manage to keep its goal so well protected. Then, Iker Casillas conceded two goals in seven matches, with a legendary defense formed by Sergio Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, and Capdevila.
It doesn’t have as many hours of top-level experience as the one Luis de la Fuente began building in the Eurocup and later refined, but it is proving just as effective. In fact, it will be the best in World Cup history. The worst figure was in 2014 in Brazil. The World Champion didn’t get past the group stage and returned to Spain with Casillas having conceded seven goals in just two matches: five from the Netherlands and two from Chile. The national team also didn’t do too well in the United States in 1996, when it reached the round of 16, losing to Italy, and Andoni Zubizarreta conceded six goals.
Those numbers have never been repeated, which doesn’t mean Spain was weak, but neither had the team ever been so solid. The key, as Luis de la Fuente always recalls, is to keep the ball and Spain has it on average 60% in all matches. Moreover, in the FIFA statistics for this tournament, it appears as the defense that makes the most defensive pressures, and that is a task for the whole team, and the one that causes the most ball losses in opponents, up to the final a total of 224. In direct pressures, it is the sixth team. A collective effort that starts with the forward and ends with the four defenders. The World Cup of the Cubarsí-Laporte pair has been almost perfect. Their understanding, their ease in pushing lines forward, and their precision when playing the ball leave few options for opposing forwards, who also face their decisiveness when necessary. If Cucurella was the great discovery of the Eurocup, Pedro Porro is being the one of the World Cup. They are fast in defensive recoveries, but their projection in attack is also essential. The player from Extremadura has scored two vital goals.
Against France, the defensive work was sublime. Spain dried up the team that had scored an average of 2.6 goals per game, which has a lethal trident to which it won all duels. The French were not able to shoot between the three posts even once. Or at least the FIFA data reflect that, which do not count a save by Unai Simón to a low cross close to the post from Mbappé.
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Rodri’s balance
A key figure in this balance is Rodrigo Hernández. The midfielder, who has returned to the Eurocup level that led him to be Ballon d’Or, tops the ranking of defensive actions published by FIFA and does so ahead of established center-backs like Upamecano or even Cubarsí and Laporte. With the Manchester City midfielder, there is a life insurance. He embeds himself forming a defensive triangle when necessary and starts attacks with clean ball exits. Against France, although it didn’t seem Spain needed it, he ran 12.5 kilometers in that match.
This solidity that Spain shows in the World Cup began to take shape in the Eurocup, where the national team only conceded four goals from Georgia, Germany, France, and England. Then, the World Cup qualification was brilliantly closed with only two goals against, which were those scored by Turkey in the last match, when Luis de la Fuente’s team already had the ticket to the United States in the pocket.
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