Nobody in the history of the World Cup or the European Championship has done what we did, Spain’s coach enthused

The group stage is already over for some teams, so they can start to evaluate easily. While Spain coach Luis De la Fuente asked his players to keep their feet on the ground, he also made the comment that no one in history has done what the Spanish national team did in Germany.

Before the championship, Spain was certainly not considered one of the hottest favourites of the tournament. The golden generation has completely gone, the team has virtually no big stars and is rather mediocre on paper.

But in the group La Roja showed to the full that football is not about names, but about the team. After three matches, they are among the biggest favourites, as they play the best football of all the teams.

The Spaniards went through the packed group of death like a knife through butter, first beating Croatia 3-0, then Italy 1-0 and Albania by the same score. They qualified for the eighth round from first place with a clean sheet. This has never been done before in history.

“The enthusiasm is great and we are first, but we have our feet on the ground. We have to create a positive atmosphere and we have the desire to do something big. What we are achieving here is very important. Never in the history of the World Cup or Me has anyone managed to win a group and not score a goal,” Spain coach Luis De la Fuente said enthusiastically at a press conference.

One day up, the next day out

Spain went from a team nobody had much faith in to one of the tournament favourites. How does the La Roja coach feel about this change? “We are very happy that people see the quality we have, but it doesn’t do us any good. The best players will be in the eighth round, so I don’t give much weight to the fact that we are favourites,” says De la Fuente.

“We all know how things work in Spain. One day you are praised and the best in the world and the next day you are useless and people throw you out. All the awards go to the players because they give the country hope and desire,” added the coach of the 2008 and 2012 European champion.

Spain have to wait until Wednesday to find out their eighth-final opponent, but what is certain is that if they progress and so does Germany, La Roja will face the home side in the quarter-finals. That would be a bit of a finale, as both teams have been playing their best football at the Euro so far and many believe they are among the favourites.

Source: Marca, EURO 2024