Luis de la Fuente Remains Calm Ahead of World Cup

Luis de la Fuente refuses to panic. He has no time for it.

Spain’s head coach will go to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico with some of his brightest talents coming off treatment tables, yet he spoke on Tuesday with the calm of a man who has already made peace with the risks.

Lamine Yamal, the 18-year-old phenomenon who has lit up Barcelona’s season, has not kicked a ball since a hamstring injury in late April. His club has already ruled him out for the rest of the campaign, a sobering line on any medical report when a World Cup looms so close.

Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams joined the casualty list on Sunday with a muscle problem. Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino has been out for three months after breaking his right foot.

Three pillars of Spain’s future, all in the hands of physios.

De la Fuente, though, chose defiance over doubt.

“I think that all the players who have been mentioned will be fit and available for the start of the World Cup and I believe for the first match,” he told journalists, drawing a clear line under any suggestion of alarm.

If that sounds optimistic, he did not back away from it. He simply widened the margin for error.

“But if it's not for the first match, it would be for the second or third, and it doesn't cause any major setbacks,” he continued, a reminder that tournaments are marathons, not sprints.

This has been a bruising season across Europe, and Spain have felt it as much as anyone. De la Fuente called it “a very tough year in terms of injuries”, then went further, describing the “world of injuries” as “the tragedy of sport” and the main source of pressure in this crucial stretch before the World Cup.

He knows what is at stake now. Every sprint in training, every duel in a club game, carries risk.

“Injuries that occur from now on, any minor muscular injury, are really difficult to recover from,” he warned. The message was clear: the clock is ticking, and it is unforgiving.

Spain’s planning, at least on paper, looks firm. De la Fuente confirmed he will take a full 26-man squad to the World Cup. Around that core, he will build a buffer. Additional players will be called in for the friendly against Iraq on June 4, a one-off fixture that doubles as an audition and an insurance policy.

Those extra names could prove crucial if recovery timelines slip or if late setbacks strike in club competition. They will train, they will travel, and they will wait, knowing a single scan result could change their summer.

The calendar offers no easing-in period. Spain open their World Cup campaign against Cape Verde on June 15 in Atlanta, a game that should, on paper, allow them to settle. Uruguay and Saudi Arabia complete a group that will test both their depth and their nerve.

If Yamal’s hamstring holds, if Williams regains his explosiveness, if Merino’s foot withstands the intensity of tournament football, Spain arrive with a squad that blends youth, invention and control. If not, De la Fuente will discover very quickly whether his wider pool can carry the weight.

For now, he is betting on recovery, on modern medicine, and on the resilience of his players’ bodies.

The next scan, not the next training session, may be what shapes Spain’s World Cup.