{"id":4117,"date":"2026-05-25T16:56:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4117"},"modified":"2026-05-25T16:56:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:56:41","slug":"4-takeaways-from-spains-world-cup-roster-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4117","title":{"rendered":"4 Takeaways From Spain&#039;s World Cup Roster Selection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Spain won the Nations League in 2023. They won the European Championship in 2024. They won Olympic gold in Paris. And yet, the last time this team made it past the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa \u2014 the year Andr\u00e9s Iniesta&#8217;s extra-time winner in Johannesburg gave La Roja its one and only men&#8217;s world title.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Three World Cup tournaments. Three last-16 exits. At some point, the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 you build between World Cups must show up at the tournament itself. This summer, with the best squad Luis De la Fuente has had at his disposal, Spain has no excuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Here are my takeaways.<\/p>\n<p><span>Lamine Yamal will play at the World Cup. The question is when. (Photo by Ahmad Mora &#8211; UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Yamal has been Spain&#8217;s marvel since his breakthrough as a 16-year-old at Euro 2024, adding two La Liga titles with Barcelona in the process. Now he arrives at his first World Cup carrying a hamstring injury into a five-week tournament. He is very much expected to be available for the start of the competition, having already made significant progress in his recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The question isn&#8217;t whether he&#8217;ll get there, it&#8217;s whether De la Fuente is disciplined enough to manage him correctly once he does. You cannot play Yamal at 60% through the group stage and expect him to still be at full capacity in the knockouts. If Spain is going deep\u2014and they should be \u2014 this team is going to need the real version of him when it actually matters.<\/p>\n<p><span>Plenty of Blaugrana on Spain&#8217;s squad, but no Bernab\u00e9u representation. (Photo by David Ramos\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>For the first time in World Cup history, there will be no Real Madrid players represented in Spain's men's national team squad for the tournament. De la Fuente instead leans heavily on La Liga champions Barcelona, who boast eight representatives in the final 26-man list.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Dean Huijsen was Real Madrid's best bet to have a player this summer, but he was snubbed in favor of defenders Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Marc Pubill (Atl\u00e9tico Madrid), and Bar\u00e7a duo Pau Cubars\u00ed and Eric Garc\u00eda. Dani Carvajal's absence was less of a surprise\u2014injuries and a lack of playing time had already ended the right-back's case before the announcement. But his leadership will be missed, and it'll be worth watching who steps into that role inside the camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The Spanish midfield is led by 2024 Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, aiming to return to full fitness after injury struggles with Manchester City. When healthy, he is the best in the world at anchoring that holding midfielder role.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>But the most important player in this midfield\u2014and perhaps the most important midfielder in the entire tournament\u2014is Pedri. At 23, with 40 senior caps already, his blend of vision, technique and passing is what makes Spain's system breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Pedri leads a stack midfield for La Roja. (Photo by Diego Souto\/Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Add on talents \u2013 such as \u00c1lex Baena (Atl\u00e9tico Madrid), Gavi (Barcelona), Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz (PSG), and Arsenal duo Mart\u00edn Zubimendi and Mikel Merino \u2013 and and you have seven midfielders of genuine international quality. No other nation at this tournament can boast this level of quality and depth in this department.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams will be on injury watch. (Photo by Ahmad Mora &#8211; UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Both Yamal and Nico Williams were included in the squad despite carrying injuries. For Yamal, the path to fitness looks relatively clear. For Williams, the situation is murkier as the Athletic Bilbao star suffered yet another setback against Valencia on May 10, and Spain will be sweating over his availability. Without a fully fit Williams, Spain are still very good, but significantly flatter in wide areas where he and Yamal combining is what makes this attack truly frightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\u00a0There were calls for Monaco's in-form Ansu Fati to make the cut precisely because of this uncertainty. De la Fuente made his choice anyway. He is gambling on both players being fit for the tournament, and now the medical staff has to earn their salary. If both Lamine and Nico reach the knockouts at 100%, Spain are one of the most dangerous teams this summer. The bet is worth making. But it is still a bet.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Spain won the Nations League in 2023. They won the European Championship in 2024. They won Olympic gold in Paris. And yet, the last time this team made it past the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa \u2014 the year Andr\u00e9s Iniesta&#8217;s extra-time winner in Johannesburg [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}