Every team left in this World Cup has one thing in common: a clear idea.
National teams don’t have the time to build the complexity of club sides, so the message has to be simple and repeated.
That is where Spain have an advantage. Their footballing identity has been developed over decades.
Players and coaches are selected because they fit the idea, not the other way round. And they have been able to evolve their style because the foundations were already there.
Some would argue they have a certain advantage on the national teams that are trying a ‘new project’ with a new manager.
De la Fuente has inherited that identity, and to paraphrase what Pep Guardiola once said when talking about Johan Cruyff, De la Fuente “has not built the cathedral, he merely re-paints it from time to time”.
The Spain manager has added layers: more versatility, more depth, more comfort in transitions, more unpredictability in the final third, more solidity.
Spain are still recognisable, still “the easiest team to analyse”, as a member of Portugal’s staff told me after their defeat in the last 16, but “the hardest to beat.”
He knows these players because he has worked with them at youth level for a decade.
His coaching decisions reflect this familiarity. His staff logically analyse every match in detail and learn what the adjustments are.
Against Cape Verde, Spain lacked finesse in their passing. Against Saudi Arabia, the machine ran smoothly again.
Against Uruguay, he knew that Spain had historically lost matches when dragged into provocation and chaos, so he insisted on calmness, discipline, and emotional control.
De la Fuente admits that in earlier years he would have reacted more emotionally.
He said: “Experience has taught me to face these situations many times. I’ve been through these games – I’ve already lived through them and usually lost. Why? Because we didn’t know how to play certain types of games.”
“So, when someone rattles you, knocks you off your game, breaks your focus, you find yourself interrupted, paused, with changing disrupting rhythms.”
It has taught him that Spain lose when they abandon their identity.
His news conferences reflect the same values. He prepares them, with the help of Aitor Karanka, director of football at the federation, the media team and also the FA psychologist, former player Javier Lopez Vallejo, but he improvises when the situation demands it.
He speaks from the heart. He calls journalists by name because he was taught that at home that “respect begins with recognising the person in front of you”.
He looks people in the eye and treats them as equals. He insists these are not media tricks.
