How Spain recaptured spirit of 2010 in run to

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — If one thing occurred once, it could occur again. That’s type of what Yogi Berra was getting at when he said “it’s like deja vu all over again.”

Berra, the late Yankee catcher and once New Jersey’s unofficial poet laureate, spent most of his life within strolling distance of East Rutherford, N.J., where historical past may repeat itself all over again in Sunday’s World Cup ultimate between Spain and Argentina. And that makes his phrases newly related.

Argentina and Lionel Messi, the reigning champions, might be in search of to turn into the first to repeat in 64 years while Spain might be enjoying in the title recreation for just the second time ever. And the similarities to its first journey, in 2010, are uncanny.

Sixteen years in the past Spain grew to become just the second reigning European champion to win a World Cup. It will enter Sunday’s recreation as the reigning European champion.

In the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, Spain ran off a 35-game unbeaten streak, which matched the longest in historical past at the time. La Roja will enter Sunday’s recreation with a 37-game unbeaten streak, which matches the current longest streak in historical past.

And that 2010 group was identified for an absence of ego and a depth of character, a blue-collar assortment of quiet superstars constructed around a core of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol, gamers who emphasised humility, unity and selflessness.

This group? It’s the same.

“We’re one big family,” heart back Pau Cubarsí said in Spanish.

A household that has already achieved its purpose, according to coach Luis de la Fuente. So while Argentina could also be feeling the strain of chasing World Cup historical past, De la Fuente said his group is enjoying with home money

“I don’t believe in the idea that finals are there to be won. They’re there to be enjoyed,” he said. “What’s to come could be the icing on the cake.”

Of course a cake is nothing without the icing. But then Spain hasn’t had to separate pleasure from success in this World Cup, having fun with an unbeaten run to the ultimate whose only blemish has been a tournament-opening draw with Cape Verde.

That was the first of six clean sheets for Spanish keeper Unai Simón, though it’s actually been a group effort with Simón going through an average of just two photographs on purpose a recreation.

“This team never ceases to amaze me,” De la Fuente said. “The scope for improvement is endless. It was a labor of love, a process. It was about reaching the crucial moment in the best possible shape.”

De la Fuente, 65, whose only senior worldwide look as a participant got here in the 1988 Olympics, coached Spain’s U-23 group to a silver medal in the Tokyo Games in 2021 then took over the national group a yr later, after it crashed out of a second straight World Cup in the spherical of 16.

De la Fuente spent almost twenty years teaching at the youth stage, including 9 years with Spain’s U19 and U21 national groups. But seven months after taking over the senior group, he led later Spain to its first UEFA Nations League title and a yr after that it gained its first Champions League title in more than a decade. La Roja has misplaced just twice in 48 video games under De la Fuente, who has the very best profitable share of any man who has managed more than 9 video games for Spain.

Given his background, De la Fuente trusts younger gamers — with an average age of 26.7, Spain has the sixth-youngest roster in the World Cup — and his beginning lineup consists of two youngsters in Cubarsí and ahead Lamine Yamal. The core of the group — Simón, Mikel Merino, Dani Olmo, Rodri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Fabián Ruiz — are gamers he coached to European youth-level championships and ones he has identified for half their lives.

That has given the group a stage of familiarity and trust that goes both methods.

“This team never ceases to amaze me,” the coach said. “The scope for improvement is endless. It was a labor of love, a process. It was about reaching the crucial moment in the best possible shape.”

And they’ve gotten there, said proper back Pedro Porro, another product of De la Fuente’s youth groups, by all pulling in the same direction.

“From the very first day we got here — not just me, but the whole team — we’ve been working toward a common goal,” Porro said. “That’s part of the process. There are no excuses.”

That, too, is one thing De la Fuente introduced to the job, though it’s not an unique idea for Spain. It’s more like deja vu all over again.

“We are ordinary, generous people,” the coach said. “We’ve recaptured the spirit of 2010.”