Spain

Spain is the best team in the World of the 21st century. I know it’s difficult to assimilate. For a country that has built its history on the story of Tassotti elbowof the Cardeñosa rulingfrom those sung by Arched and Zubizarreta or of Gamal Al-Ghandour heistbeing the best is something that almost catches one off guard. But turning the story around, becoming the best is not a matter of luck. Spain is not the best by chance. The best. When we closed our eyes, Spain had in its record an almost forgotten Euro Cup won in 1964 with a goal from Marcelino in the final minutes. When we open them and close the blink, Spain has become one of the most important teams in history: two World Cups, four European Championships and only one lost final between both tournaments since 1964. In the 18 years that separate the 2008 Euro Cup and the 2026 World Cup, barely a blink in the history of football, our country has won two World Cups and four European Championships. That is, he has risen to the top of the podium in five of these 10 events. He has also been champion of a UEFA Nations League and runner-up on two other occasions. Beyond selection. Dominance in Euro Cups and World Cups goes far beyond national team competitions. In the last 25 years, Spain has added 11 Champions League and three runner-up finishes (Valencia’s in 2001 and Atlético de Madrid’s two against Real Madrid). When a Spanish team has reached the final so far in the 21st century, it has always won, except in the case of Valencia. In the Europa LeagueSpain has won 12 titles and two runners-up (Espanyol and Athletic Club de Bilbao played against Sevilla and Atlético de Madrid in those years). Again, if a Spanish team reaches the final, the Spanish team wins. In the Conference LeagueOf the five editions played, Spanish teams have added two runners-up finishes (Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano). In the European Super Cups (winner of the Champions League against the winner of the Europa League), Spain has 14 titles and nine runners-up (only Sevilla on three occasions and Villareal on one occasion have lost against foreign teams). There have been five finals between Spanish teams, three of them in consecutive years. Because? Analyzing Pedro Porro’s goal against France in the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup, the team’s second, Tierry Henry, former French soccer player for Arsenal and FC Barcelona, argued that this was the result of a way of playing that Spain has instilled in its players since they were children. A way of playing that has been installed in the DNA of most of the youth teams in our country. Spain has been dominating the European youth categories for years. The under-19 team has achieved 10 Europeans so far in the 21st century and two runners-up finishes. The European under-21 (it is played every two years unlike the previous one) has brought us three championships and two runners-up. At the Olympic Games, Spain was a finalist in 2020 (played in 2021) and won the 2024 ones. Of that last team, four players won the absolute World Cup yesterday and another five were present in the silver medal in Tokyo in 2021. Fermín López (champion in Paris in 2024) would surely have been added to them, not on the list due to an injury in the final stretch of the season. With an average of 26.7 years, Spain is the sixth youngest team in the World Cup. The goal. On October 13, 2007, Spain began to write its recent legendto. That day against Denmark, Sergio Ramos (then right back) completed a play built for more than a minute by chaining 28 passes. Many consider that this was the germ of the new Spanish football philosophy. Until then, Spain had built his story about “the Fury” and testosterone. Luis Aragonés found a new formula. He built a team around the ball with players who could not compete physically but surpassed their rivals in technique, positioning and knowledge of the game. The first Spain was structured around the backbone of FC Barcelona, ​​which already played the best association football in the world. In 2009 and 2011 he won the Champions League. Xavi, Iniesta, Pujol, Piqué and, later, Villa, consolidated a backbone that won Euro-Champions-World Cup-Champions-Euro Cup in five years. The association. Luis Aragonés’ greatest merit was believing in the idea and surrounding these players with similar associative profiles but who contributed their own style. To Silva, Jesús Navas, Fernando Torres, Spain became favorite 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 and he complied. But the merit was supporting the idea among the youngest players and getting the idea of ​​the game to penetrate the teams and their quarries. This has allowed Spain to win its last championship with its biggest star, Lamine Yamal, playing a discreet role and without large clearly differentiating individuals in world football. The secret is that Spain has managed to make its team play like a football club. It has maintained a base that it has been able to adapt (such as the commitment to wingers in the 2024 Euro Cup) to the circumstances of each moment in the last two years but that has taken flight throughout this championship, returning to its roots, managing itself around the ball. Fresh air. Spain’s victory also brings fresh air to a world football that has turned to physicality and individualism. Few teams have known how to play like a football club and only in the most conservative approaches have teams really worked on the same concept. However, all the favorites have given ground to individualities in the World Cup with the most names in history. Faced with an event where the four French attackers, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, have shone, Spain has been able to build a block without big names of its own and without huge World stars but … Read more