Rotterdam, this time last year. In the Nhow hotel on the Wilhelminakade, overlooking the Maas, Jesús Navas was just asked the simplest but deepest question of all: how was it? And so he tells them, a group of players gathered around him like he was a grandpa in a rocking chair, only he’s still running. “It was incredible,” he says. “I told them about the World Cup. About the goal. How we celebrated it. We were all there, the hairs stood on end. And that gave us the energy to face the final.”
That evening in De Kuip, Spain won the Nations League and defeated Croatia on penalties. It may not be a big tournament – for some it’s barely a tournament – but it was something and it was a start. For the first time in eleven years, the selection had held a trophy aloft, reacquainted with a feeling that had slipped further into the past, as a few of them had felt. That’s why they had asked, as Dani Olmo started the conversation; it’s also why, twelve months later, there’s a glint in Navas’ eye. This isn’t just nostalgia, it’s now.
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The greatest moment in Spanish football history began at his feet, when he started on the right flank in the 116th minute of the final in Soccer City, South Africa. He is the only remaining player from the 2010 World Cup-winning team, and also the last player from the 2012 European Championship. He recently extended his contract with Sevilla, but only until December 31, when he will retire at the age of 39. And then there will be nothing left. “It’s incredible to be here at my age and enjoy this,” he says. “They ask me; they know how long I have been in football. I try to guide them and tell them that it is unique to be here.”
This is a different generation. That doesn’t mean they are all children; far from it: Joselu is 34, Dani Carvajal 32 and Álvaro Morata 31. Rodri is 27, Fabián Ruiz 28, Olmo 26. There is a lot of tournament experience between them. But a generation removed from Spain’s golden era and even the last World Cup, there are only ten players left of the Qatar 2022 squad. And if there is a face of hope, a reason for excitement, it is that at least partly from a child. Very literally. Pedri and Nico Williams are 21; Lamine Yamal is 16. Can’t drink, can’t drive, can lead Spain to the European Championship. At least that’s the hope.
When Navas began his run in South Africa, Lamine was two days away from his third birthday. When Navas made his professional debut, he wasn’t born yet. Willems was one.
They know from 2010, Navas says, but they have grown without seeing success. Worse still, although that generation will always remain in the collective memory, which may not always be helpful and is certainly not always fair to the footballers who followed it, they have mainly seen Spain fail. Now they have a reason to believe this won’t be repeated.
After 2012, when the selection won a third tournament in a row, going three consecutive competitions – 2014, 2016, 2018 – without winning a knockout match. In 2021 they reached the semi-finals, where they lost to Italy on penalties – “that still hurts,” admits captain Morata. But then in Qatar, with renewed expectations due to the European Championship, they were eliminated again in the first knockout round, this time by Morocco. Spain wondered if that wasn’t just the case That good more.
In reality, that idea persists. Look at France, Germany, England and Portugal, and the Spaniards see players who are among the best in the world; look at their own team, and they don’t. Major doubts remain: about the central defenders and the centre-forward. Aymeric Laporte is injured and will probably be replaced by Nacho Fernández. Morata has had a difficult few months, with the optimism of his early season form disappearing and being replaced by another manifestation of his vulnerability: the image of a man for whom happiness always seems just out of reach. However, something has changed, first slowly and then quickly.
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Spain’s World Cup elimination had a familiar feeling; As in 2018, they had dominated possession to the point of caricatures, only to be defeated on penalties. Luis de la Fuente, who had coached the under-21s and under-19s to European success, was partly a candidate for continuity, but he was also explicitly entrusted with a style evolution. There have been personnel changes, some forced rather than by choice, including Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba retiring. There are also changes in the game. As Mikel Merino puts it: “We will try to dominate, but we will also adapt and run counters.”
Life after Qatar did not start well. There was skepticism when De la Fuente took over from Luis Enrique, but that was not dispelled when they lost to Scotland. Even less so when he went to applaud Luis Rubiales during that infamous speech in which the then president of the federation refused to resign after kissing Jenni Hermoso after the Women’s World Cup final. The coach apologized and apologized that he just wasn’t very good at dealing with these types of scenarios, and to be fair, the evidence from his early public appearances suggested as much. It didn’t seem likely that the coach would last long.
When Spain went to Tbilisi, they left the boots behind; the night before they faced Georgia, the players completed the session in trainers. The next day they won 7-1. “The press was not convinced, [but] we were,” says Unai Simón.
“Luis de la Fuente understood that the team needed time to process his ideas,” says Rodri. “He gives the players freedom. There are two or three key ideas. He wants a more direct team, more decisive in both areas; we try to be a little more vertical, a little less focused on ball possession [per se] but on possession to hurt opponents. We had to change and adapt the ‘chip’. The coach gives you guidelines, a ‘script’ and then it is the players who have to interpret it. Above all, you have to be aware of the profile of the players you have.”
Rodri’s progression and maturity, and his emergence as an elite midfielder, has been crucial. The Nations League success suggested this team could compete. Pedri’s return after two years of injuries has created optimism in recent weeks. And then the children come.
When it was put to Morata this week that Spain no longer has the kind of players who could aspire to the Balon d’Or, the talent to aspire to major tournaments, he insisted: “Rodri could have easily won it last year; the only thing it lacks is marketing. I always tell him that. We have Pedri, who is different from other footballers. And I am sure that Nico and Lamine will also be there in the future.”
It is a huge responsibility to rest on the shoulders of a schoolboy who really arrived in Germany doing homework. “That [mental] aspect is more important than purely football questions,” says De la Fuente. “What we need to do is normalize the situation and support them. You need to explain that with humility he will grow much more. He needs that balance; we have to raise him.
“They are very young players, especially Lamine – he is a child – but with a talent that only the chosen ones have. It’s as if he’s been touched by the wand of God. Very few have that quality, that incredible ability.”
That is why, while few see Spain among the favorites, alongside France, Germany, England and Portugal, there is increasing belief that they are among the candidates. This time the unknown is not something to be afraid of but embraced, something in Lamine and Nico that excites, something different: fast, skilled, daring. The perfect additions, a twist on tiki-taka, as if chosen precisely to solve the problems Spain has lived with for so long. Something new.
Or maybe not so new, a touch of Navas 14 years later – “one-on-one, hire people very quickly; the football I like, the position I played” – two generations united in an idea, a team being rebuilt. “They ask, and I tell them; I try to help and advise them,” says Navas. “They are young, they experience it all so intensely and they see us above all as an example of desire, enthusiasm and work. I’m sure they’ll have seen 2010 once or twice. They are certainly young, but what we did was unique and will be there forever. I now see similarities with what we were like then; we are on the same path. I tell them that every session is an opportunity to enjoy football. I enjoy it now more than ever, knowing that every match could be the last.”
They are special footballers,” said De la Fuente. “They have that touch that makes them different from the rest.”