The Spanish national team coach Luis de la Fuente told journalists that the team plans to give 'special attention' to Lionel Messi in Sunday's World Cup final, but decided to forgo the tactic of intense individual pressing against the Argentine captain.
De la Fuente explained his decision by stating that based on personal experience, he knows the difficulties of applying man-marking one-on-one against the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner. The coach recalled an incident from his time when he was training the youth team of Seville, and Messi played for Barcelona's youth squad.
He recounted that they assigned a player to shadow Messi, but this player had to be substituted in the 70th minute due to a yellow card. With the score at 0-0, Messi scored four goals in the following fifteen minutes. Therefore, as De la Fuente noted, they will not use man-marking one-on-one this time, but instead will remain vigilant and pay special attention.
De la Fuente emphasized Messi's exceptional nature, calling him a 'unique' example for young athletes due to his conduct and attitude, especially considering the maturity with which he plays in the World Cup. The final will be a personal confrontation between De la Fuente and his Argentine colleague Lionel Scaloni, with whom he developed a friendship in 2017 when De la Fuente was an instructor and Scaloni was preparing to obtain a professional coaching license.
The Spanish coach firmly rejected suggestions that Argentina might resort to unsportsmanlike or dirty tactics to disrupt Spain's game. He expressed deep respect for the Argentine national team, noting that they won the World Cup, two Copa Americas, and the Finalissima, and that they are led by his close friend. De la Fuente is confident that talent and quality football will dominate the match.
Furthermore, De la Fuente announced that his team is ready to adapt to the extended halftime break in the upcoming final. It is expected that the break will be almost twice as long as the usual 15 minutes to accommodate the halftime show. The Spanish coach believes that longer breaks and hydration pauses introduced in this World Cup could become the 'norm' in football in the coming years, suggesting that what seems strange now might become customary in 30 years.
The publication The Athletic has published an updated ranking of the best footballers for the 2026 World Cup (WC-2026), which will take place in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
According to the updated table, Argentina captain Lionel Messi is in first place. In second place is French forward Kylian Mbappé, and rounding out the top three is English midfielder Jude Bellingham.
According to The Athletic's assessment, the list of the top ten players looks like this: first place is Lionel Messi from Argentina; second is Kylian Mbappé from France; third is Jude Bellingham from England. Following them are Harry Kane (England), Erling Haaland (Norway), Michael Olise (France), Ousmane Dembélé (France), Ashraf Hakimi (Morocco), Vinícius Júnior (Brazil), and Aymeric Laporte (Spain) completes the top ten.
