“What a fucking recital!”, shouted Cucurella upon entering the locker room. “It’s close, so let’s go for it. It was written: we start in Atlanta and end in New York,” said Dani Olmo amid chants and pieces of pizza to regain strength. A summer in New York (or New Yol, as Bad Bunny says) was the last one Mikel Oyarzabal spent with family and, years later, when football has led him to become one of the top scorers of this World Cup (five, plus one assist) to push Spain to the final, he will return to the Big Apple and fight to lift the World Cup and place a second star on the crest.
“Maybe it was one of the last vacations with my parents and my sister, because then football complicated everything,” said the most effective forward of Luis de la Fuente with a half smile. The complication was a silver medal at the Tokyo Games, the Euro in Germany, and now a World Cup final. The smile is all you can get from the captain of Real Sociedad, always so reserved (those who don’t know him might think it’s just posing).
Up front, Spain is cautious off the field, but also at the back. Pau Cubarsí only broke from the humble discourse in the mixed zone to recall that his partnership with Laporte sparked distrust. “Keeping a clean sheet is one of the most important things. There was a buzz that the defense and the goalkeeping were not doing well. We have silenced many mouths. We conceded one goal and we are in the final,” claimed the calm boy, who promises to “celebrate it like never before” in New York.
Oyarzabal appeared again to put the brakes on. “We are immensely happy, but we have to stay calm. We know where we are, just one step away. We are as calm as after the Cape Verde match, which was in early June, a long time ago,” he recalled. And those criticisms hit the locker room, which considered them excessive. They asked for time and it has proven them right. They are still not aware that they have taken Spanish football to the second biggest event in its history. “When you are little you don’t imagine the magnitude of a World Cup, not only of teams, but everything behind it. We don’t know what is happening in Spain, but we are one step away from achieving something historic that, hopefully, can happen,” the forward allowed himself to say.
Among the few shouts heard on the field after the final whistle, besides some dance from Unai Simón, were those of Porro, the Spanish revelation of the tournament for his performance and goals. He has two, both dedicated to his son Pedro. “He couldn’t be on the field because he had a fever. I hope he feels better with this goal,” said the Extremaduran, who ended exhausted. “I couldn’t go on and it was time for Marcos Llorente to come in and help the team. It is the push from everyone that has brought us here,” he recalled.
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The only one who broke from caution was Lamine Yamal, although not in the locker room, from which he left hurt by the blow from Lucas Digne during the penalty. After the match, he posted a message on his social media: “Pardon, pardon,” he said with a mischievous smile.
A few meters away, Luis de la Fuente walked through the bare concrete halls of the AT&T in Dallas with the phone glued to his ear. On the other side was the King, Felipe VI, telling him that on Sunday he will be at the MetLife in New Jersey as he promised them in Guadalajara more than three weeks ago. Then he might have sensed doubts about Spain’s play, which was gradually improving. Yesterday, dressed in the white shirt, like any fan in the streets and squares across the country, he jumped with the goals of Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro alongside Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor, and the football-loving Infanta Sofía. All in a restrained manner, almost as it happened in Dallas, where the euphoria was saved for a week later.
“It is a source of pride that our King calls us, constantly encourages us, and for us it is also a pride to be the makers of a joy for a country. We have an exceptional generation of footballers and it is exciting to see a country united and committed to a common cause. There is one more step left, it is the hardest and we have to improve,” said Luis de la Fuente, who never abandons his discourse. Nor his football idea, which takes him from final to final with a group of players he has raised and in whom he believes blindly. “I am surprised by what this team is capable of. This is not free, it is not a coincidence. It is talent, work, sacrifice, overcoming. Of course, we would have liked to win the first match too, but the idea was to reach a very high level at these key moments. Now you know we want more,” he revealed.
The coach did not stop repeating that they won, with a memorable match that will be remembered, against what was called the best team in the world, the one aspiring to play three consecutive finals and which he left with unheard-of numbers: since 1966 France had generated so few goal expectations. “We deactivated the best team because we are the best team. These players interpret football in offense and defense better than anyone,” De la Fuente recalled, not without valuing “the work of the schools and Spanish coaches.”
