Around eight in the evening in New York, two and a half hours after the match ended, Luis de la Fuente appeared in the MetLife press room (a provisional white tent, with the air conditioning on full blast). But he didn’t do it alone. With him came his entire staff (Juanjo González, his second; Pablo Peña, the analyst; Carlos Cruz, the physical trainer; Miguel Ángel España, the goalkeeping coach; Aitor Karanka, technical director, etc…), who occupied the places reserved for the press to listen to their leader.
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Someone asked the coach, serene and calm, what he had told the players before going out onto the field and before extra time. After answering both, he continued: “What’s more, I’m going to tell you something you haven’t asked me: one of the players, who has been with me for many years, asked me: ‘Coach, what do we have left to win now?’ And I answered him that we want to win the next match, the one in September, now.”
That next match is the start of the Nations League. The champion will debut its title on the 26th of that month at Wembley (London), against England. The Czech Republic and Croatia are also in that group. Spain will play four matches in September and two in November in the qualifying phase of a tournament it won in 2023 and lost in the final on penalties in 2025. This team, the reigning European and world champion, was expected to be fighting for the title in the USA, and it won. But, beyond winning, the fact that Spain competed to be one of the top four and became the best, is the true success of the tournament. And now what? Well, there won’t be major revolutions, and the best way to explain it is line by line.
GOALKEEPING
It’s not going to change much in the next two years. Unai Simón (29), David Raya (30) and Joan García (25) guarantee the future, either because Unai continues at the same level as before and then there will be no debate, or because the Barça goalkeeper continues to progress and sooner or later the change will come.
DEFENSE
The framework will remain, although just as there have been two changes between the last European Championship and this World Cup, there may also be movement, but always from this base. The two changes compared to the European Championship are Dani Carvajal, who was sidelined from the World Cup by injury, and Robin Le Normand, who lost his place due to the emergence of players like Pau Cubarsí or Marc Pubill. Pedro Porro is 26 years old; Cubarsí, 19; and Marc Cucurella, 27. If nothing unusual happens, they will be in the United Kingdom and Ireland in two years.
A different case is that of Aymeric Laporte, with a superb performance in this tournament but whose 32 years old force us to wait and see. Pubill, Eric García or Alex Grimaldo, who are here, or people like Dean Huijsen and Cristhian Mosquera, the one from Arsenal, are names that will return or begin to appear, especially the latter, who can play as a right-back and center-back as he already does under Arteta.
MIDFIELD
Here, the future also holds for these two years until the next major tournament. The most veteran are Rodri, Mikel Merino and Fabián Ruiz, all 30 years old, but behind them are Pedri (23), Gavi (21), Dani Olmo (28), Martín Zubimendi (27) and one who is not here and has been a significant loss for the coach: Fermín López (23 years old). No problem is foreseen in the continuity of the group in this area of the field; all of them are familiar with the playing system. People will surely join, two years is a long time, but with what is available, there is enough to continue in the same vein.
FORWARD LINE
More or less the same thing happens here. The starting center forward, unless someone not yet foreseen emerges in this time, is Mikel Oyarzabal, and his 29 years do not seem worrying, far from it. Behind him, Nico Williams is 24 and Lamine Yamal, 19. But then Álex Baena is 24, Víctor Muñoz 22 and Yeremy Pino 23. Names for the future could be Jan Virgili (Mallorca) and Alberto Moleiro (Villarreal), without forgetting that specific moments or peaks of form could bring back people like Pablo Fornals or Marco Asensio. The search for a striker to help or replace Oyarzabal will continue, and that’s where the figure of Samu Aghehowa (Porto) emerges.
AND THE BENCH?
The bench will remain the same. Luis de la Fuente renewed, in January 2025, precisely until after Euro 2028, and despite initial doubts, his management of the World Cup has strengthened his position. His insistence with Mikel Merino proved more than justified and almost everything he did improved the team, including backtracking on Gavi’s first start against Cape Verde, which was his most criticized decision in this tournament. The Barcelona player again had only a few testimonial minutes. There is no debate surrounding the figure of the coach.
