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Luis de la Fuente satisfied with Spain’s warm-up matches

The national coach pointed out that the objectives the squad had have been achieved and they’re going into the European Championships ‘with optimism, but with humility’.
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Sun, 09/06/2024 - 11:45

Luis de la Fuente appeared ‘very happy’ in the Son Moix press room, explaining what he was looking for in the two preparation matches for this European Championship, against Andorra and Northern Ireland: to recover individual players, as well as to build a team. ‘These friendlies have given us a lot, we wanted to help the players recover, to relieve them of the load of many matches,’ said the coach, ‘so the objectives we had set before starting this mini.training camp have been achieved.

 

Regarding today's game in particular, the coach also expressed his satisfaction, even though the tempo of their play dropped after the break. ‘We played a good 40 minutes after their goal and, but in the second half, it was noticeable that we were cautious given what we have ahead of us’, he pointed out. After a surprising start in which the support of Son Moix was important, said De la Fuente. ‘They got us into the game; I hope they were satisfied with the spectacle they were able to witness,’ he said.  

 

The national coach welcomed the ‘competition’ for places seen in these two matches, and the individual recovery of some players: ‘They were all in good condition but, after this week, we are convinced that we can count on all of them from June 15th.

 

As an example of this competition and recovery of players, he mentioned Pedri: ‘I thank him because he has a great set of values; Pedri to find his feet and be himself, and he has done it, and we have absolute confidence in him for this competition’. However, he also returned to his usual discourse: ‘The individual plan is always secondary to the collective’, he affirmed, at another point in his appearance. 

In any case, when analysing these two friendlies, Luis de la Fuente asked people to put ‘everything in context, also looking at the results of other national teams; we can be optimistic, but with the utmost humility’, he insisted. ‘Everyone is very hungry, with the desire to do something important,’ he said.

 

Looking ahead to the next few days and their training schedule, De la Fuente explained that the work will be ‘recovery’, first and foremost; and then, knowing Croatia's potential and their experience and individual quality, ‘we must strengthen our strengths’. "We have very good wingers, one of the best inside players in the world... what we have to do is to be ourselves, respecting our opponents, trying to strengthen our strengths and impose our own style of play, he pointed out.

 

Watch the press conference again


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