De la Fuente backs Yamal as Spain seek 36th straight win against Belgium
Spain went in unbeaten in 35 straight competitive matches, with Lamine Yamal’s rise and De la Fuente’s rebuild driving a quarter-final against Belgium.
Spain arrived in Los Angeles with the rare combination of form, control and momentum that has defined Luis de la Fuente’s tenure. The European champions were unbeaten in 35 straight competitive matches, with some counts putting the run at 36, and had not conceded a goal at the 2026 World Cup.
What made this Spain side different from earlier golden eras was the way De la Fuente had built it. Appointed in January 2023 after years with Spain’s youth teams, he took over after the penalty loss to Morocco in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup under Luis Enrique and has turned the senior side into an extension of the country’s development pipeline. Spain’s Euro 2024 title, secured with a 2-1 win over England in Berlin, gave that structure a trophy to match its results.
Lamine Yamal sat at the center of the cycle. UEFA named the Barcelona winger its Young Player of the Tournament at Euro 2024, one day after his 17th birthday, after a tournament in which he became the youngest player ever to appear in a major international final at 17 years and 1 day. He is now 18, still playing for Barcelona and Spain, and De la Fuente has made him a key part of Spain’s evolution rather than a stand-alone attraction. Pre-match talk around the coach also pointed to the Portugal game in the round of 16 as one of the most important of Yamal’s young career, with the sense that his ceiling is still higher.
Belgium offered a serious test rather than a convenient quarter-final. They reached the last eight with a 4-1 win over the United States and carried their own unbeaten run into the match, while the winner in Los Angeles would move on to face France in the semi-finals. Belgium also had history at this stage, having beaten Spain in 1982 and Brazil in 2018, a reminder that the path to a first World Cup crown since 2010 still ran through opponents capable of punishing any lapse.
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