De la Fuente: “They have taken us to the limit, the antipodes of our football”

The national soccer coach, Luis de la Fuente, pointed out that Uruguay’s proposal this Friday was “the antipodes of soccer” that is understood by a Spain that won (0-1) despite being pushed to the limit and with “extreme toughness”, to advance to the round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup as first in Group H.

“I continue to admire Marcelo Bielsa, the matches are played by the footballers. It was going to be a very demanding match and we have to accept the circumstances. It is not the most comfortable type of match but that is what the referees are for. They have taken us to the limit, extreme toughness, and we have risen to the occasion,” he stated.

The ‘La Roja’ coach began the press conference at the Akron in Guadalajara (Mexico) by giving his condolences to Didier Deschamps for the death of his mother and sending his encouragement to Joaquín Caparrós, who learned this Friday that he suffers from colon cancer. De la Fuente did not want to criticize Uruguay’s game, but he did move away from their style.

“Each game is different. Surely we have other virtues and we praise other types of games but we have to win all types of games, without being brilliant, we have lived up to it. It was the maximum requirement, we have maintained a high level of concentration, not to engage in many provocations,” he stated.

“Every day my players want to be better. A match that was the antipodes of football that we understand, they have been up to the task. Refereeing is very difficult, I understand that there are tools, the VAR, that should help. I hope to play normal matches from now on. I don’t want to get into trouble and say anything about the referees,” he added.

On the other hand, the Rioja coach pointed out that Nico Williams ended up with some discomfort and regretted that Yeremy Pino can say goodbye to the World Cup due to a blow to the collarbone. In addition, De la Fuente showed his chest for his “34 undefeated games.” “We have surpassed Brazil, this is pride and more pride. We are on the right track to reach the idea of ​​when we arrived, the final,” he stated.

“I am very demanding, we would like to be better than we are, but we are very good,” he noted, speaking of aspects to improve, especially “in fluidity, the speed of play.” “We had a fantastic half hour against Arabia, today it was difficult to connect passes, we have to apply ourselves to that, make the ball run more, at the speed we are used to,” he explained.

On the other hand, De la Fuente was asked once again about the position of a Pedri who does not shine as he did at FC Barcelona. “Pedri is a footballer of many records. The Spanish team is not just Pedri. Pedri has to adapt to playing in a different way than he plays for his club, because here the demand is different. He understands it and gives it to us. I don’t know if he will like it more or less, but I love the way he plays with the national team,” he concluded.