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Euro 2024 final Spain-England: Luis de la Fuente, sour faces and reconsidering international football

Football is chronically lacking a sense of humour these days, so the football Gods must be applauded for lining up Luis de la Fuente, Didier Deschamps, Gareth Southgate and Ronald Koeman in the Euro 2024 semi-finals. All four were maligned before the tournament, and at various points, at the wrong end of the finger of blame. Their presence in the final four is not definitive proof of their quality, and just as Southgate now has a record unparalleled in English history, some will still point at Deschamps and Southgate for not winning more. Come midnight on Sunday though, an ugly sister will become Cinderella forever one way or another.

One take is that international management is just not attracting the top managers, and it is hard to argue against that on the whole. All the same, Spain’s run to the final saw off Germany protege Julian Nagelsmann, who was given the Bayern Munich job before most managers complete their coaching badges. Italy maybe lack some of the quality of yesteryear, but there is no doubting Luciano Spalletti’s club record, returning the Scudetto to Napoli in rampant fashion last year, obliterating the competition. Even with Deschamps, a miserly King of abundant riches, it’s rarely mentioned that he took AS Monaco to the Champions League final, and is responsible for Olympique Marseilles’ only Ligue 1 title in the 21st century.

Spain starlet Yamal a 'genius': coach De la Fuente

De la Fuente’s in-game management would perhaps cause Carlo Ancelotti’s eyebrow to quiver upwards. His substitutions egged Germany onto Spain, and while France did not do much with it, his changes came late again, and after La Roja had ceded the ball. Arguably their most dominant performance was the one where no Spain player scored, as they slaughtered the Italian midfield, setting Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal fast and loose. Even that game saw Spain wobble for ten minutes though, with only Lamine Yamal coming off before the 78th minute, when Ayoze Perez and Mikel Oyarzabal came on and returned a firmer grip on the match.

Acknowledging that, it sort of doesn’t matter: Spain have been the most dominant side, scored the most goals, had the most attempts, and have the second-best defence. De la Fuente does not present himself as a tactical genius, nor does his approach seek acclaim or chessboard adjustments. Naturally, they have adapted their plan for each opponent, but without laying traps, or as de la Fuente puts it, ‘doing strange things’.

Rodri Hernandez said this week that Spain had “not played the same way in two games,” but it’s come across as an effortless balance. Each game has still been discernibly Spain. Yet for a man who frequently expresses his devotion to the holy book, he is wedded to no style. If Spain lose the final, it won’t be because de la Fuente falls on a philosophical sword. England cannot wait for stubbornness to reveal a tender spot to attack.

What de la Fuente does talk about in his press conferences is the atmosphere. The togetherness of the group, or the family, as has entered common parlance in the Spain camp. “I don’t want players who are sour-faced if they are not playing, here the players have to have respect for their teammates,” the 63-year-old explained last week. This week he called Alvaro Morata “a rare player, who contributes as much off the pitch as he does on it.” Captain, leading the line, he has just one goal but it does stand out the degree of affection his colleagues have for him.

Many suspected that de la Fuente, who was originally branded a Federation stooge, would be Sergio Ramos’ route back into the national team after Luis Enrique left. More or less the first thing he did was call the 38-year-old to tell him he wasn’t part of his plans. True to his word that age was not a barrier to his selection, he called up Jesus Navas, who is five months Ramos’ elder, and trusted him against Kylian Mbappe.

Morata’s lack of goals, and a couple of shaky spells for Robin Le Normand are the only reasons for nose-wrinkling, and you have to search for them. The abundance of evidence makes de la Fuente guilty of a series of excellent calls. There’s a rather obvious looking trail of decisions that led La Roja this far, but before it had been trodden, the path wasn’t as clear as hindsight would deceive you into believing. Few managers play two wingers actually starting from the touchline these days, and handing space to Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal to frolic in has perhaps been the decisive shift. Placing so much trust in Lamine Yamal was a brave choice, but one that de la Fuente opened the door to after just 182 minutes of professional football last September, when he was first called up.

Rodri has committed the faux pas of having such consistently high standards that he ends up under-appreciated. Dani Olmo is the most effective player at the tournament, and Fabian Ruiz is playing the best football of his career. From toying with Toni Kroos to slipping past Ngolo Kante, Fabian has gone about it with a mixture of swan-like grace and a perverse nonchalance. It’s hard to believe Emre Can got the better of him just a month before in the Champions League. Just as many people would not have started him, just as many would have omitted Marc Cucurella from the squad entirely. Gary Neville is the most famous example, but his words did not run against the grain at the time – Cucurella has earned a spot in the team of the tournament.

Maybe at club level, a domineering personality and a voluminous playbook is the most consistent recipe for success, but perhaps it is time to rethink exactly which parts of management are the most important in international football. You can see shapes, draw patterns and count pressures. Therefore allocating the gold stars based on an approach is much easier.

If Southgate (who does have an excellent talent base) is one of the most consistent international managers in Europe, and the world champion is Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina, who like de la Fuente and Southgate was promoted from a youth role, it’s worth asking why we don’t give more weight to concepts that are harder to quantify. Maybe they’re just less entertaining to discuss. Scaloni, Southgate and de la Fuente have paid much more attention to forging a group, fostering an atmosphere and ensuring the players are the defining characters, than creating an identity on the pitch.

Nobody should be so naive as to fall into the trap of branding de la Fuente a tactical dunce because of that, yet there’s no doubt the progress of his side raises questions about how managers are thought about. On Sunday night, malas caras, or sour faces, are guaranteed, on one side or the other. Spain have played with a smile on their face and a hunger in their eyes so far though. Perhaps when we look to explain this team, that’s the evidence of de la Fuente’s work that shines most clearly through La Roja.

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Tags England Euro 2024 Gareth Southgate Luis de la Fuente Spain La Roja
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