At 3:00 AM Beijing time on July 20th, Spain will face Argentina in the World Cup final. Ahead of the match, Spain's head coach, Luis de la Fuente, attended a press conference; this article is the third part of that conference.
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Luis, it's a pleasure to see you. Congratulations on your work, and thank you for your continued respect when discussing Argentine football. We've noticed, with some concern and surprise, that a negative perception of the Argentine national team seems to have taken hold. Just now, a colleague asked you if Argentina is a "cunning" team, and a colleague in Brazil also asked if the Argentine team plays dirty and whether you're prepared to face that kind of dirty play. What are your thoughts? Do you think Argentina is the dirty, unsportsmanlike, and cheating team that many people want to label it as? How would you define the Argentine team?
No, please, come on, I absolutely would not think that way. I respect everyone's opinions, and as opinions, you must respect them within the bounds of respect. But no, come on, I have an extraordinary admiration for this national team that is about to become, or already is, the Copa America champion, the World Cup champion, and is going to become the Copa America champion again. If I remember correctly, to correct me, they are also the winners of the European Championship final, and now they are the finalists of the World Cup. I don't think anyone in history has ever done that. Please. And they are even coached by a friend of mine. There is only admiration, admiration, and even more admiration and recognition.
They are great football players, truly great. We all use our own weapons, but those are all football-level weapons. It's a football game, and whoever plays better, whoever controls the game better, whoever minimizes the opponent's strengths, is closer to victory. But the premise is always to stay true to our own style, and I think these two styles—which is why I talked about similarities—have quite a lot in terms of football proposals.
Hello, Luis, someone asked about Ramin (Yamaal) before. You said he's doing well, but what is his exact physical condition? We've seen some footage where he seems to walk a little unnaturally. Is he 100% healthy, or is he carrying common bumps and bruises at this stage? In other words, could you give us a brief description of his specific situation?
He suffered a severe impact a few days ago when he won a penalty, and the area was extremely painful. It was what we colloquially call a hamstring injury, which is very painful, but he persevered and finished the game perfectly. Yesterday he felt a slight discomfort, and as a precaution, we prefer to let him rest.
Furthermore, this was, in a sense, his "rest day," what we call "invisible training," which he also completed. He participated normally throughout the day, training with his teammates in a completely normal manner. He's fine; that is, he has no problems and is in perfect physical condition.
Hello, Luis, I'd like to ask you, in the few days of preparing for a World Cup final, if you could choose any person and ask them one question to help you with this preparation process, who would you choose and what would you ask them?
You see, as you all know, I greatly admire Vicente del Bosque, and… the truth is, I already asked him that question, you beat me to it. But yes, Vicente is someone I deeply respect, we have a lot of mutual respect. And he's a football sage; he's been through these kinds of situations. No one is better suited to advise you, guide you, and share data with you than someone who has experienced these situations and understands crucial moments in a game. That experience is invaluable, although subsequent matches are always different, that's for sure, but getting a clue in case you can recognize some of that information and incorporate it into your game is incredibly helpful; it brings you peace of mind.
