De la Fuente brings insatiable Spain to England knowing World Cup is not enough

“I’m going to tell you a story,” Luis de la Fuente said. “As soon as the game finished on 19 July, before anyone had cooled down at all, just two or three minutes after the final, one of the players – and you’ll have to forgive me for not telling you which one, but it was one of those who has been with us for the longest time – came up to me and said: ‘Mister, now what? What’s left to win?’ And I said: ‘Bloody hell, the game against England at Wembley on 26 September.’”

It was a Friday afternoon at Las Rozas and Spain’s coach had just named his first squad since that day in New Jersey. It was a familiar one, full of history makers. Of the 26 from the World Cup, only four had been left out and there was an explanation for each: Marcos Llorente has announced his international retirement; Joan García is injured; Borja Iglesias, who always felt the likeliest to leave first, is not fully fit; and Gavi is suspended for Wembley, although he could have faced Croatia and Czechia.

Fermín López is back after missing the World Cup through injury and is joined in the squad by Josep Martínez, Dean Huijsen and Roberto Fernández. Pedro Porro then pulled out, replaced by Iván Fresneda.

“How could there not be continuity with players who are champions of everything?” De la Fuente asked. Well, of course. It is not even as if the season has been going long enough for anyone else to make a claim on a place, although there were three strong candidates for that spare striker’s role, Sergio Camello and Carlos Espí competing with Espanyol’s Fernández. There certainly hadn’t been time for anyone to build a case stronger than those who came back from the US with the trophy. All the more so with De la Fuente, loyal to his players and making a virtue of continuity.

Even the new face in the squad, the Inter goalkeeper Martínez, has been here before. In fact, officially has a cap, from when Spain’s under-21s – managed by De la Fuente – stepped in for the senior side just before the pandemic-postponed Euros in the summer of 2021. And when he was questioned about Unai Simón potentially losing his status as No 1, he replied: “Unai was recognised as the best goalkeeper at the World Cup, he broke every record, etc. Maybe, just maybe, he has to be given some continuity.”

Which is not to say there will not be changes of personnel at some point, the Spain coach says. There are plenty of players “knocking at the door”, he explained, before saying it was up to them to walk through the door and into the house. For now, though, there is little new to say or to see, naturally enough. A status report on Spain as they arrive at Wembley could pretty much be reduced to four words: yep, still world champions.

But that’s the point. They are still European champions too. Oh, and they have won the Nations League. At grounds around Spain, although not at the Camp Nou, which eight of the squad call home, supporters have paid homage to the champions. In their own small towns all across the country, footballers have been feted. Ferran Torres threw the first pitch at Yankee Stadium and appeared on just about every TV show in the US. His image, celebrating the winner at the MetLife, is plastered on the wall by the dressing room at their Las Rozas HQ. They will walk out at Wembley with an extra star on their shirt; those stars have already been added to badges all around Spain’s HQ.

They should enjoy this – and there is a genuine sense of occasion at going to Wembley for their first game as world champions, as if that is part of the celebrations too – but they go there to compete as well. That at least is the intention, and the challenge. In a way, they are being invited to forget the unforgettable, not just at the Euros in two years’ time but now. The coach admitted he does not like this new international break comprising four games in 11 days, but whereas others may not take the Nations League so seriously, he does like it, does want to win it. The Nations League was the beginning of a new Spain era after all, the first trophy – won in 2023 – for a generation that had always lived eclipsed by their predecessors. When they reached their second final in June 2025 and lost it, on penalties to Portugal, it hurt.

Spain may be world and European champions, reason to relax, but they perhaps uniquely still have an objective: if they are to match that generation, they have one more major tournament to win. Besides, De la Fuente says, competing is just what they do. The word he keeps using is insatiable. He means them, but it fits him too.

He joined the Spain setup 13 years ago on a three-month contract with the under-19s for the Euros. He had been unemployed for more than a year. He took over the senior side in 2022, having been a European champion at under-19 and under-21 level, and has reached every final. This week his contract was extended to 2032: not reward for services rendered, but services pending, those two things coming together in a conversation in New Jersey.

“This team won’t stop; it wants more and more, to be the best,” De la Fuente said. “I will tell them that too. What we did at the World Cup is not enough to keep us winning games or to beat England. You have to be better. That’s our culture and our mentality, our attitude, so I have no doubts and no worries. We know Spain are the team to beat, we know that it makes things harder, but it motivates us and we’re ready for it. Success is not winning; it is being in a position where you can win. And I would back these players, always. You can follow them to the end of the world.”