Luis de la Fuente, coach of the Spanish national team, believes that merely reaching the World Cup final represents a great privilege, emphasizing the difficulty of facing Argentina led by Lionel Messi.
The Spanish national team is preparing to face Argentina in the World Cup final tomorrow, Sunday, at New Jersey Stadium.
Luis de la Fuente said in the press conference: "I do not think that the longer rest period, which will be only 17 minutes, can affect us, before we start this journey, I told the players how the tournament would proceed".
He continued, "Merely reaching the final is a great privilege, I am not a fan of traditional phrases, but what is important is to be present in the final, I would agree to losing a World Cup final every year, as this shows how important it is to reach this match".
Regarding facing Lionel Messi, captain of Argentina, he said: "I met Messi when I was coaching the youth teams at Sevilla, at first we were marking him man-to-man, then I made a substitution for one of the players and Messi scored four goals, we will not use individual marking against him, but they will also be watching our players".
He added, "I respect everyone's opinions, but I have great admiration for the team that won the World Cup and South America, led by a friend of mine, there is great admiration and appreciation, each team will rely on its strengths in football, and whoever succeeds in reducing the danger of his opponent will be closer to winning".
Regarding Lionel Scaloni, coach of the Argentine national team, he said: "We have a wonderful relationship, and we are both fierce competitors, there is mutual admiration between us".
He continued, "It will be a wonderful match, two teams of the highest caliber, and there are many similarities in their style of play between them, each of us will try to direct the match to the path that suits him, but the most important thing is that creativity prevails over any other circumstance, the referees are there to help and preserve the beauty of the spectacle".
He completed, "Lamine received a strong blow in a painful area, which we call dead leg, on Thursday we preferred that he get some rest, but he trained normally on Friday, and he is in perfect physical condition".
He concluded, "I have already spoken with Vicente del Bosque, he is a dear person to me and a very wise man in football, he has been through this situation before, and it is always good to get his advice".
The Spanish national team qualified for the World Cup final after topping Group 8 with 7 points from two wins and a draw.
It achieved a big victory against Austria in the round of 32 with a score of 3-0, and qualified at the expense of Portugal from the round of 16 with a goal to nothing.
To face Belgium in the quarter-finals and achieve an exciting victory with two goals to one, then achieve a valuable victory against France with two goals to nothing to set a date with Argentina in the World Cup final.
