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Spain coach Luis de la Fuente spoke at a press conference following the win over Uruguay at the end of the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage, stressing his satisfaction with the performance of his players and his confidence that the team will continue in the same way in the upcoming qualifying rounds.
De La Fuente opened the conference by expressing his condolences to France coach Didier Deschamps on the death of his mother and to Joaquin Caparros, the former Sevilla manager, when he announced he had colon cancer, before speaking about the game and his team’s performance.
Regarding the confrontation against Uruguay, de la Fuente said: “I still admire Marcelo Bielsa. Players play. It was a very exciting match full of physicality. I hope we can play normal games and I don’t want to talk about referees anymore.”
He added: “We have to play this type of game, because we may end up in similar situations later. We showed great composure and did not fall victim to any provocations.”
The Spanish coach praised the performance of his players, saying: “The performance of this team is commendable. We’re not used to playing games like this and we’re fine with it. This team is very cohesive, concedes few goals and is capable of scoring many of them. They surprise me every day.”
Regarding the tactical plan, De La Fuente explained: “We will not change the idea. We may move some players into this position as we are suffering from a lack of sides,” noting that “the team has excellent alternatives who can adapt to different positions and we are making deliberate changes based on studying the opposition.”
The coach revealed the injury of Neko Williams about the physical condition of the players, saying. “He feels a slight discomfort, which may be due to fatigue or overload, but the worst is the strong pain we feel for Jeremy Benoit, who may miss the World Cup.”
“I have full confidence in this team, the demands of the World Cup are different from the European Championship, but we went 34 games without defeat over Brazil and that shows that we are on the right track.”
De La Fuente concluded his speech by emphasizing the ambitions of the Spanish national team, saying: “I’m very ambitious, so are the players. We are doing well and can continue to improve. We are where we wanted to be and we will continue to work to reach the highest levels.”
