"We want the Spanish national team to be a family." That's Luis de la Fuente's answer to everything — and right now, it's hard to argue with him.
The 64-year-old arrives at the World Cup as manager of the European champions, a Nations League winner, and the man who has quietly assembled what many consider the tournament's most complete squad. Three years ago, parts of the Spanish press were writing him off as a federation bureaucrat promoted beyond his station. The nickname stuck for a while: "Luis de la Who?"
His answer has been emphatic enough to end the conversation.
Built from the ground up
The thing about De la Fuente's Spain that separates them from teams assembled in a hurry is that this group has been growing together for over a decade. He was there in 2015 when Rodri and Unai Simon helped Spain beat Russia 2-0 in the European Under-19 Championship final. He was there in 2017 when Mikel Merino's Under-21 side lost the final to Germany, and back again in 2019 when they went one better. Dani Olmo, Fabian Ruiz, Mikel Oyarzabal — all products of that same pipeline.
Pedri, Zubimendi, Cucurella came through the Olympic setup. The result is a squad that, as De la Fuente puts it, "often appears to understand him before he finishes a sentence."
"With Rodri in particular, we've known each other for more than 10 years," he said. "I'm sure that in his life, and in the lives of many of the players who are with me today, there hasn't been a single coach who's been able to tell them things the way I've told them. I guarantee it."
That's not sentiment. That's a competitive edge. Teams cobbled together from transfer windows can't replicate ten years of shared dressing rooms and hard-earned trust. Spain's title odds reflect exactly that depth — and they're probably still underpriced.
The man hasn't changed, the results have
A practising Catholic who credits his faith as a guiding force, De la Fuente shows little interest in revisiting the critics. "Time puts everyone in their place. I haven't changed a bit since then," he said. "I go to the same places, the same restaurants, the same cafes. I walk down the street doing exactly the same things."
Serene isn't a word you often attach to international football managers. De la Fuente has earned it. The chaos of major tournaments — injuries, media pressure, player egos — tends to fracture squads that don't have genuine cohesion underneath. Spain's looks genuinely unshakeable.
Their path through Group H starts with debutants Cape Verde, followed by Saudi Arabia and Uruguay. Comfortable on paper, though Uruguay are nobody's idea of a free win. But if Spain come through the group playing the way they have been, the teams who face them in the knockouts will know exactly what's coming — and that's perhaps the most unsettling thing about them.
De la Fuente's greatest strength was once used against him: he built slowly, from the bottom up, with no shortcuts. That same quality now runs through every player who pulls on the shirt for him.
