Spain are one of the favourites to go deep in Euro 2024, but only a handful of people are picking them to win it all. Perhaps one reason why this is so is because they’ve already dealt with a bad hand at the start of the continental tournament.
La Roja are in the proverbial “Group of Death” alongside defending champions Italy, Croatia, and Albania in Group B, although they should be one of the teams to advance to the next round, according to the SBOTOP Euro 2024 odds.
Because they’re no longer in a period of dominance, Spain are in a phase of transition. Competing in Euro 2024 represents a new opportunity for them to continuously build their program to hopefully get back to where they were not too long ago, and winning the trophy would validate their progress.
Young stars ready to shine for Spain
Spain are bringing in a much different group than they had in Euro 2020, as this time most of their key players are under 30 years old.
Because he was a former youth coach, Luis de la Fuente has emphasised the use of young players. This was evident during the recent international breaks, as he was able to integrate the likes of Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Pedro Porro, Alex Baena, Oihan Sancet, Alex Balde, and Nico Williams, among others, into the squad.
During the Euro 2024 qualifiers last year, Spain dominated Group A, as they’ve won seven of their eight group stage games, which included several blowout wins against Georgia and Cyprus, where they’ve scored 13 goals while conceding only one on the other end.
The Euro 2024 qualifiers saw the likes of Lamine Yamal, Alex Baena, Nico Williams, and Oihan Sancet score their first goals for La Roja, which should give them a huge confidence boost moving forward.
In their youth group, only Gavi will not participate in the Euros because he’s still recuperating from an ACL injury he sustained last year. However, his midfield partner Pedri is still there, while Rodrigo Riquelme, Yeremy Pino, and Daniel Vivian are among the other young choices for de la Fuente.
Don’t forget the veterans too
While Spain have their new shiny toys, they won’t make it far in the tournament if their older players don’t click.
At the moment, Atletico Madrid striker Alvaro Morata is going to captain the squad, whether the fans like it or not, while he’ll be accompanied by fellow veterans Rodri, Aymeric Laporte, Unai Simon, Fabian Ruiz, Mikel Oyarzabal, Pablo Sarabia, and Dani Olmo, among others.
Unai Simon will likely take the starting goalkeeper spot, but he’ll face internal competition with David Raya, who is doing well at Arsenal this season. Rodri will be joined by Fabian Ruiz and Mikel Merino in the middle of the park, while Gerard Moreno, Joselu, Marco Asensio, and Mikel Oyarzabal are additional attacking options for de la Fuente.
Rodri and Dani Olmo were the last scorers for Spain during their 3-3 draw against Brazil during the March international break, with the Manchester City man scoring a brace.
Covering Unai Simon at the back are Aymeric Laporte and Robin Le Normand at centre-half, while de la Fuente may call on Fran Garcia, Pau Torres, and Cesar Azpilicueta to provide depth.
On the other hand, Alex Grimaldo and Marc Cucurella will strengthen their full-back corps already with Jose Gaya and Juan Bernat, despite only having a few caps under their belt thus far.
Luis de la Fuente out to prove himself
After losing to Morocco in the Round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup, Luis de la Fuente was promoted from the youth ranks when Luis Enrique resigned from his post and eventually signed with PSG.
We’re not sure why many were skeptical of de la Fuente because he won trophies at the youth level before, but he was able to prove his doubters wrong when he guided Spain to winning the 2023 UEFA Nations League, beating Italy 2-1 and Croatia in the penalty shootout.
Luis de la Fuente is determined to bring back Spain to its glory days, but he knows that it will take some time to do so, and he’s all-in on the project. Because he led Spain to winning their first-ever Nations League trophy, he was deservedly signed to a new contract extension until 2026.
The 62-year-old might not be as known or established as some of his coaching colleagues, but he doesn’t mind being overlooked, and he would rather let the Euro 2024 results speak for themselves.
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