Achieving greatness is rarely done solo. No matter what the profession, what gifts you were born with, and the skills and experience acquired along the way, it's more than likely that somebody was a key teacher or influence on the path to success. As Argentina and Spain prepare to meet in the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday, the two high-flying national teams share something in common -- a bond between teacher and student.
Spain boss Luis de la Fuente, 65, having worked for the Spanish FA since 2013, has coached the nation's U19, U21 and U23 teams. Now the senior national team boss and having won Euro 2024, his side has been arguably the best-performing one at the World Cup, producing a stylish run to the final after beating France in the semis on Tuesday.
But some may not be aware that the Spanish manager was actually Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni's professor back in 2017, when the now-48-year-old Santa Fe native was getting his coaching license before taking the Argentina U20 job a year later.
Deep Spanish ties
Scaloni, along with Lionel Messi, has deep ties to Spain, having played for Deportivo La Coruna, Racing Santander and Mallorca. He stilll lives in the country, and he travels back and forth to Argentina as needed due his national team duties. But with most of his players playing in Europe, living there makes scounting and visiting them much easier. His wife, Elisa Montero, with whom he has two children, is Spanish. But his ties with de la Fuente date back to the November 16, 2017 at La Ciudad del Futbol de Madrid in Las Rozas, where the Spanish soccer federation offers classes for those who want to get into coaching, including a special program for players who played at least eight years in Spain. There, Scaloni got his UEFA Pro license, the highest you could get, taking classes alongside former fellow Argentina national team players such as Javier Saviola and Fernando Redondo.
"He was my professor, Luis de la Fuente, in the coaching course," Scaloni said in a press conference at theCopa America in 2024, which Argentina won, sharing how he wanted Spain to do well at Euro 2024, which they ended up winning. "Logically, I want Spain to do well. Aside from Luis having [been our professor], he gave us, the guys that did the course at Las Rozas in 2017, he helped us a lot. He's a great guy. I've had some talks with him, and I wish him the best. Truthfully, it's great to see how he talks, how he carries himself, how the players perform for him and do well for Spain. He's doing things very well. I have a part of my family that is Spanish, so I wish him success. Because they deserve it above all, so in this case, I go for Spain, logically."
Those comments came amid an astonishing run, three tournament successes in a row with winning Copa America in 2021, the World Cup in 2022 and the most recent Copa America.
Different yet effective styles
While these teams possess some players with similar styles, how they approach games can be quite different. They have those guys that can hold on to the ball and play it out of trouble, the dynamic players who can create magic on the wing in Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, and the forwards are not afraid to drop back to get the ball, clear make those diagonal runs and offer the versatility needed at any time.
Spain under De la Fuente are built on positional play -- a 4-3-3 base in possession that morphs into a higher 3-2-5 or 2-3-5 overload. They want to hold the ball as much as possible and pass you to death, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. What separates this version from older tiki-taka Spain is added verticality that give them a real threat in behind rather than pure circulation, imposing their identity rather than reacting to the opponent or the moment.
Argentina don't really play to a fixed possession-based system so much as a resilient, transition-first identity built around absorbing pressure and striking in key moments. It may be a frustrating style at time, as they look to pass back, move around, and change up their attacking approach to try and take advantage of any defensive mistakes, evident by Enzo Fernandez's open look for the equalizer against England and Lautaro Martinez's winning header, where he found the space and remained unbelievable unmarked.
Scaloni's side have needed a comeback or extra time in four straight knockout games, leaning on Messi as the chief creator rather than pure finisher, quick-strike combinations and impactful substitutions to change the physical equation late. Their calling card is composure in the final 20 minutes of matches, punishing opponents who sit back or lose intensity rather than trying to control the game from the first whistle, while defensively, they aren't afraid to implement those symbolic South American tactics of slowing a game down with fouls, looking to get under the opponents' skin and make it a cagey, tense affair.
Runs of dominance
Argentina, under Scaloni, continue their massive return to the global stage, looking to win back-to-back World Cups in what's been an absolutely incredible run, ending years of suffering, including a title drought that stood from 1993 until 2021. Spain did something similar 14 years ago when they won Euro 2012 after winning both Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. Now, both hope to add to the silverware their nations managed to accumulate with so many fans watching. As de la Fuente and Scaloni share the touchline and embrace their professional relationship and friendship, it will be a coming together of two effective styles for the grandest prize, but with the ultimate amount of respect between them.
"I've been lucky enough to teach various coaching courses. We taught this generation of footballers like Xavi Hernández, Xabi Alonso, Raul. Football stars who now wanted to become coaches, and I had the luck to train Lionel Scaloni among them," de la Fuente said two years back.
"We have an exceptional relationship. He's a world champion. Sure, he was quite questioned at the beginning because he arrived with little experience, some say, but he's had the 'bad' luck of making Argentina champions of both America and the world."
