{"id":11588,"date":"2026-07-20T14:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11588"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:12:07","slug":"spain-defeats-argentina-at-the-2026-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11588","title":{"rendered":"Spain Defeats Argentina at the 2026 World Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">In 2015, however, he found a path to success that he has hardly strayed from since: on his third attempt, he lifted the U-19 European Championship title after a 2-0 victory over Russia in the final played in Katerini (Greece), with a squad that included Rodri and Mikel Merino, as well as Unai Sim\u00f3n as the backup goalkeeper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The first two, who have since become mainstays in his midfield, arrived at this latest World Cup under similar circumstances, having suffered and overcome serious injuries and without enough playing time to regain their form.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">De la Fuente not only waited for them\u2014in Merino\u2019s case, until the very last moment, though as <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/cadenaser.com\/nacional\/2026\/07\/07\/luis-de-la-fuente-responde-a-los-criticos-hubiese-ido-a-recoger-a-mikel-merino-en-brazos-es-un-jugador-grandioso-cadena-ser\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/cadenaser.com\/nacional\/2026\/07\/07\/luis-de-la-fuente-responde-a-los-criticos-hubiese-ido-a-recoger-a-mikel-merino-en-brazos-es-un-jugador-grandioso-cadena-ser\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/cadenaser.com\/nacional\/2026\/07\/07\/luis-de-la-fuente-responde-a-los-criticos-hubiese-ido-a-recoger-a-mikel-merino-en-brazos-es-un-jugador-grandioso-cadena-ser\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the coach said<\/a>, \u201cif it had been necessary, I would have gone to pick up Mikel from his house in my arms\u201d\u2014but he also placed his full trust in both of them (especially in Rodri, who has started every match). And they, despite not performing as hoped in the group stage and even facing criticism, have more than repaid that trust: the Manchester City player emerged as the best midfielder of the World Cup, and the Arsenal player scored crucial goals in the final minutes of very tough and hard-fought knockout matches, such as those against Portugal and Belgium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">And then there\u2019s Unai Sim\u00f3n, the goalkeeper for Athletic Bilbao, De la Fuente\u2019s beloved team. The Riojan has always backed him without hesitation ever since he called him up for that now-distant U-19 European Championship. Sometimes, against all odds, especially when the Basque goalkeeper faced competition from goalkeepers at clubs that were, on the face of it, bigger\u2014as has happened on this occasion: when he looked at the bench, he saw the best goalkeeper in La Liga, Joan Garc\u00eda (FC Barcelona), and the best in the Premier League, David Raya (Arsenal), who were unable to take his spot because the coach from La Rioja has always trusted him. And Sim\u00f3n, for his part, delivered by conceding only one goal all the way to the final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">For all these reasons, after defeating France, De la Fuente shared a special moment with the three pillars upon which he began building his cathedral: \u201cWe embraced each other and said, \u2018Who would have thought, back in 2015, that 11 years later we\u2019d find ourselves in the World Cup final after a journey like the one we\u2019ve had?\u2019\u201d the coach told the media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">That long-standing and special relationship has undoubtedly had an impact on the field. As Mikel Merino acknowledged to <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/cadenaser.com\/nacional\/2026\/07\/08\/mikel-merino-sobre-el-apoyo-de-de-la-fuente-durante-su-lesion-es-dificil-encontrar-un-entrenador-que-te-demuestre-tanta-confianza-cadena-ser\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/cadenaser.com\/nacional\/2026\/07\/08\/mikel-merino-sobre-el-apoyo-de-de-la-fuente-durante-su-lesion-es-dificil-encontrar-un-entrenador-que-te-demuestre-tanta-confianza-cadena-ser\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/cadenaser.com\/nacional\/2026\/07\/08\/mikel-merino-sobre-el-apoyo-de-de-la-fuente-durante-su-lesion-es-dificil-encontrar-un-entrenador-que-te-demuestre-tanta-confianza-cadena-ser\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cadena SER<\/a>, it\u2019s \u201cvery difficult to find a coach who not only gives you so much confidence but then proves it\u2026 It\u2019s one of his strengths: how he manages this group. And the confidence he gives us, we return to him with all our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Luis also instilled that confidence in other players during his years with the national team\u2019s youth ranks\u2014players who have since become essential members of the senior squad in recent years, such as Fabi\u00e1n, Dani Olmo, Mikel Oyarzabal, Eric Garc\u00eda, Cucurella, Zubimendi, and Pedri. With them, he went on to win, among other achievements, the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Italy and an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/olympics\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Olympic<\/a> silver medal at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/2021\/07\/if-the-tokyo-olympics-succeed-it-will-have-to-be-because-of-the-content\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">2020 Tokyo Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2015, however, he found a path to success that he has hardly strayed from since: on his third attempt, he lifted the U-19 European Championship title after a 2-0 victory over Russia in the final played in Katerini (Greece), with a squad that included Rodri and Mikel Merino, as well as Unai Sim\u00f3n as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d5c2d93b5b20ea0f28a70\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/2286811787","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}