The new coach, Luis de la Fuente (Haro, 1961), congratulates AS readers on Christmas and visited our newsroom to discover the main lines of his method.
Spain will not play again until March, in Norway against Haaland and against Scotland, in Andalusia, in the qualifying phase for Euro 2024 in Germany. Will the wait be long?
I would have liked to play already this month, but the calendar rules. As for the rivals, they are tough teams. We have already seen during the World Cup that any team can win a match. In the football of nations there is no small enemy, everything is very even. In the World Cup we have seen that no one has been able to win every game. In any case, we are going to get to work from now on.
For those matches in March, will the block be that of the World Cup or will there be many changes?
We are going to see how the players arrive in March, but from the start I think that the block of the World Cup is good. We have a very good base, good players. Now you have to hit the lists to choose the best. In the Absolute there are nine Under-21 players, but there are also other veterans who can contribute, who have a top level and who can make the younger ones better. To make a list you have to take many factors into account, including that player who can solve a problem for you with 20 minutes to go in a stuck game. You have to see everything.
For example, as happened with Fernando Llorente in South Africa…
Well, it’s a good example, of course.
If the match against Norway was tomorrow, how many of the World Cup would repeat?
I think that, more or less, if we made a list of 25 footballers now, at least we would all agree on 20. But in March we have to see how the players arrive and their states of form.
whatWhat style of play will Spain have?possession as in Qatar?
I like to dominate matches, but in the Under-21s we have been versatile. In the European of the category, against France, we scored two goals in transitions. We have been able to have control of the game, but we have known how to withdraw and quickly go out into space when the game has required it. I like to give the team the touch it needs. Spain also has good players, fast and quality people, to take advantage of the field, the spaces. We have seen in the World Cup, for example with Morocco, that it is very difficult to win against teams that have a good organization, with a solid low block, and that can go on the counter. You have to handle yourself in all scenarios.
It seems that what Spain plays, from the Absolute to the Sub-19, is to control the matches, isn’t there another mold?
Each coach has his script, but I like to have players for all scenarios. That’s the complexity of lists. For example, if we are going to play against a team with two good central defenders, experts and greats, how can you fight against it? Well, maybe you have to take a striker who is strong in the air. You also have to bring fast people who know how to attack spaces, or interiors that match on the inside… in short, a little of all the good there is, there is a lot in Spain. Now I am lucky that I am in the Absolute and I am not limited by age. If there is a 20-year-old better than a 28-year-old, then he will come. And backwards.
The system with the double pivot appears in your career, which by the way is the formula with which Spain, with Busquets and Xabi Alonso, won the 2010 World Cup. Do you plan to repeat it now, with the new National Team?
I still like the double pivot, and the most important thing is that we have players to do it. There are Mikel Merino, Fabián, Zubimendi, Ceballos, Rodri… very good people to play like that. But all the games are won on the scoreboard, so you have to have the ability to change during the games, which for me is the great merit of the coach. These modifications fit to play with two more defensive pivots, or with one more hitch and two interiors. The figure of the midfielder is key in my concept, that midfielder who balances is essential.
Unfortunately You will no longer be able to count on Busquets, who has announced his withdrawal from the National Team.
Busi called me and I tried to convince him to continue, but he had already made his decision and you have to respect him. But it must be recognized that Busquets has been the best defensive midfielder ever seen and his legacy is impressive. He is a source of pride for everyone in his career in the National Team and I wish him the best of luck. I would have liked to have him, but it will not be possible.
Do you think any could be recycled?
I like specialization, that the winger plays as a winger and the nine out of nine. But you don’t have to be closed in on this either. In the European, against Poland, we played qualifying and we had to score at least three goals. Our bet was to put Oyarzabal on as a center forward and we put five on them. Well, sometimes it’s not just thinking about the figure of the classic nine, there are players who can do other tasks. It is not what I like the most, but if necessary, you have to have other solutions.
In addition to Morata or Borja Iglesiaswhich forwards come from behind?
It is true that in the Under-21s it is one of the positions in which we have had fewer options, but there are three players who seem very interesting to me. Abel Ruiz, who has already made his debut with the Absolute, is one of them. And also in the Sub-19 and Sub-18, but allow me not to say names.
Centrals don’t come out many either…
Well, left-handed centrals, a few have come out; right-handed, not so much. This is going in streaks, but I am an optimist, I see good players in all positions. There was also a time when only right-backs came out and now they come out on the left. They are cycles that occur, but there are very good players in all demarcations. But, be careful, then you have to hit the lists because not all of them can be adapted to the game idea that we want to develop. There may be a very good center back to play in a certain way that is not appropriate. We need center backs who can overcome a line with a pass. That does not mean that he is better than a center-back who dominates the passing game, but in our opinion it is better that he has a good ball output.
Perhaps better for your idea Eric Garcia than Raúl Albiol, for example?
Well, Albiol seems like a fantastic central defender and I don’t close the doors on him at all. Eric fits the right kind of center back.
Sergio Ramos?
Nobody has the door closed, the best will come. It will depend on the states of form in all cases. I will speak with Ramos, as with all heavyweights. I have known Sergio since I was a child, since my days at Sevilla.
And Rodri from central?
I see Rodri as a midfielder. He has always played pivot with me. It is true that he has also done well as a central defender and he can still be used for some games. But I look for and I want specialization and for me Rodri is a midfielder. Since he was in the Villarreal youth team, he has been with me in the pivot position.
It is clear that he likes footballers in the position in which they play in their teams.
I am a lover of specialists: I like wingers with a natural leg, but sometimes they will have to play with a different leg. There is a line, but there are no dogmas. Now, I like every player in his position, and he earns that at his club. It is true that we sometimes say that so-and-so can also play in this other one. Yeah, but maybe in that other one there’s someone better than him.
Then you’ll like goalkeepers who play with their hands more than those who play with their feet…
As a fundamental premise, what I ask of a goalkeeper is to stop, and then the rest. But if we have a goalkeeper who can generate superiority, all the better. We have talked about possession, transitions, attacking spaces… but modern football also starts the play from the goalkeeper. We want a goalkeeper who saves, but if he can also overcome the first line of pressure with a pass, all the better. In the lower categories we have worked a lot with Miguel Ángel Spain, who is the best goalkeeper coach in the world.
Have you worked in the lower ranks with Kepa Arrizabalaga?
No, I have not had Kepa in the lower ranks.
Almost all the teams have a differential player up top that Spain has not just found, do you see one on the horizon?
Well, I don’t have that so clear. For me, Dani Olmo is a super striker, like Ferran, Ansu Fati, Morata… and also Oyarzabal, who I hope will recover as soon as possible. And with a lot of talent we also have Gavi, Pedri…
Pedri, with all due respect, has left the World Cup and left the Euro Cup without scoring a goal or giving it. He doesn’t believe that more should be demanded of him?
I agree that we have to ask for more, but Pedri and everyone. Because they are very good and have great talent. And therefore you have to ask more of the best. And they should accept it naturally. I wish they had asked me for more when I was a player, because that makes you improve. They are so good that we can ask for more.
Another of the shortcomings of the National Team is that it has not had a leader. Luis Enrique did that function. Do you see any in the Selection?
Leadership is earned on a daily basis. It is an exercise in coexistence, dialogue and reflection and, in the field, with performance and professionalism. The leader always comes out, but naturally. In our time, in the Sub-21, Dani Ceballos was one of them. Also Fabián, Mikel Merino and Oyarzabal.
Well, none of the four you have mentioned has been to the World Cup in Qatar…
Well, Oyarzabal was injured. But there were other very good…
In Qatar we have fallen in the round of 16Is it true that he did not give for more?
No, not to me. I said before the World Cup that Spain was one of the candidates for the title and I still think so. But I also said that there are 32 teams and only one wins. Winning is very difficult. I had some favorites at the beginning, among which was Spain, which I had for more. But in the round of 16 there were already 16 very good teams left and you could lose to anyone.
There are players who have been on the lips of all of Spain, such as Borja Iglesias, Canales or Iago Aspas, who have not gone to the World Cup despite popular outcry. What do you think of it?
I have been able to speak since I was appointed, and all those who have said, and some more, are very good and can enter the lists, of course. Before we said that almost all of us could agree on 20 players from a list of 25, and among the others there could be those mentioned and some other as well. But in any list, surely some very good ones are left out, because they don’t all fit. But it is not a whim. All my respect for what Luis Enrique has done, but I will make the lists according to my ideas.
Do you plan to talk to the so-called heavyweights?
Of course I’ll do it. Because they have to help me and because I need information. I am convinced of meritocracy and the best must come to the National Team, players with whom there is no doubt. The best have to come with Spain.
What method does De la Fuente have?
I have never liked bosses who say just because, because I say so. I am to convince, not to impose. That is my way of getting the best out of footballers.
That was Del Bosque’s model, who added that it is better to convince footballers than to impose them, and that in any case it’s better if they don’t realize it…
Del Bosque is a teacher, a phenomenon as a coach and as a person. He was one of the first to congratulate me on my appointment and I am grateful to him. I met him for some time in the Federation and learned from him what I could. Del Bosque is a wise man.
Did you feel healthy envy when you saw so many thousands of Argentines supporting your National Team in Qatar?
Well, here is one of the challenges we have: get people hooked again, the fans. Let’s see if we are able to do something to get our followers to turn themselves in. But we have not only seen the Argentine fans in the World Cup; also the Croats, who are much fewer. Spain has also been able to achieve that, between 2008 and 2012.
A wish for 2023?
Let’s try to go back to that, to I’m Spanish, I’m Spanish! Getting that pride back would be a good wish for the New Year. That and health to all, of course.