Post by Michael Kwamena-Poh jr

The Athletic: Spain stun France: We should have known Spain stun France and are almost invincible under De la Fuente Luis de la Fuente has a habit of quoting Roman emperors and it’s kind of fitting because internationally, his empire-building is phenomenal. We’ve spent the entire World Cup touting France as the tournament’s unstoppable force. But along came Spain. I won’t pretend with hindsight that TAFC saw France’s semi-final exit coming but when we wrote about Spain last week — on the back of their win over Belgium in the quarters — I said that De la Fuente “won’t expect to come off second best” against the French. That was based not just on the team at his disposal but on De la Fuente himself: quietly assured and, in everything he says, adept at convincing his players they have the beating of anybody. France attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki reflected on yesterday’s 2-0 loss in Dallas by claiming: “The only team who were capable of eliminating us was ourselves.” That’s not strictly true. Spain, when it comes to it, are not far off invincible under De la Fuente. I’ve used this stat before but to reiterate: in almost 50 matches as head coach, he’s suffered one competitive defeat. One. They have superstar quality in Lamine Yamal but it’s not what they’re about. Energy, organisation, comfort in possession and elite mentality combine to make them the complete package. In the end, France were reduced to looking like a collection of outstanding individuals, all having a bad day concurrently. Their immense forward line hit a Spanish wall, emerging with an expected goals figure (0.3) which gave them no chance. Mikel Oyarzabal scored early from the penalty spot, his fifth goal of the World Cup. Spain’s second, above, was cleverly crafted and converted by Pedro Porro. De la Fuente, 65, talked about beehives after the last eight and Spain’s performances rely as much on the workers as they do the queen (Yamal). The interesting thing to note about De La Fuente is that he hasn’t coached in club football for 15 years. The international scene is his calling and having started out with Spain by winning Euro 2024, he’s one step from lifting the World Cup. Like the Romans he admires, he’s creating a dynasty.