Culture, consistency and Lamine Yamal - inside De la Fuente's Spain

Published 30 minutes ago Luis de la Fuente's Spain are closing in on greatness. They are bidding to become just the fourth team to hold both the World Cup and European Championship crowns at the same time; following their compatriots in 2010, France in 2000 and West Germany back in 1974. De la Fuente is now into his fourth year as Spain boss; winning the Euros two years ago and now guiding his country to a quarter-final against Belgium on Friday. France lie in wait for the winners. He has lost just three times since he took over in January 2023, and is on a run of 35 games without a defeat. There are coaches who build teams through tactics, and there are coaches who build teams through people. De la Fuente somehow manages to do both. What sets him apart though is more than a football philosophy, but rather a way of understanding people. His style can be defined as controlling possession but with alternatives. But alongside it he has created a culture. De la Fuente's success with Spain is the product of decades of work within the Spanish federation, and of his own role as a coach in that system since 2013, shaping players and instilling values. He has played a crucial part in building a collective identity that is now unmistakable, and that is no small feat with a national side. The one club man who is Spain's under-the-radar hero Published 2 July Lamine Yamal shows why this could be his World Cup Published 21 June Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Spain have only lost three matches since De la Fuente became manager 'Football is a team sport, built by good people' At the heart of De la Fuente's world view lies a simple conviction: football is a team sport built by good people. Not 'good' in the abstract moral sense - though Christian values and common sense ethics clearly guide him - but in the footballing sense; generous, supportive, selfless, disciplined, and willing to sacrifice for the collective. He repeats this idea constantly, almost with surprise that anyone finds it unusual. "Those of us who have been in a locker room know what it means to be a good person," he said in an exclusive chat before the game against Belgium. "Almost every squad has had the opposite, the player who disrupts harmony, who puts himself first." De la Fuente, 65, has lived through enough dressing rooms to know that talent without generosity does not go far. His Spain is built on players who give before they take. Spain's style has always relied on players who understand the game collectively. The passing, the possession, the positional intelligence: these are technical qualities but social ones too. The 'easiest team to analyse' but 'hardest to beat' Every team left in this World Cup has one thing in common: a clear idea. National teams don't have the time to build the complexity of club sides, so the message has to be simple and repeated. That is where Spain have an advantage. Their footballing identity has been developed over decades. Players and coaches ar