Luis de la Fuente

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — We said it was the FIFA World Cup of superstars, and it was.

They all delivered: Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Michael Olise, Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo (at least he did against Uzbekistan).But in the way this sport likes to confound, it's somewhat apt that the 2026 World Cup should go to Spain, the incarnate version what your little league coach meant when he said, "there is no 'I' in team."It's not that Luis de la Fuente's team do not have superstars. It's just that they're not built around them nor defined by them.

Pedri and Lamine Yamal are among the very best in the world at what they do. Yet the former was dropped to the bench after the round of 16 and the latter played mostly as an orthodox grunt of a wide player, not the swashbuckling, give-him-the-ball-and-wait-for-something-to-happen superhero sans cape we see at Barcelona.It's not entirely a function of de la Fuente's team et…

المصدر: espn boxing