A hundred games in, there are conclusions to be drawn. The ball is fast, the pitches perfect, the stadiums incredible. And, above all, he says, unusually the four semi-finalists are actually the best teams here. \u201cEngland v Argentina will be very, very close, two very different styles of football, but I would rather focus on ours,\u201d he says, so he does. \u201cFrance are one of the best teams here, in great form, but so are Spain. We can beat them, we\u2019ve seen that at the Euros and in the Nations League.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the game in Dallas on Tuesday, both of those were semi-finals. Last summer, Spain beat France 5-4 in the Nations League<\/a>, which makes it sound closer than it really was: the selecci\u00f3n led 5-1 with 11 minutes left. The summer before, Spain beat France 2-1 at Euro 2024<\/a>. The omens get even better: the first time Rodri won anything with Spain \u2013 the 2015 Under-19 European Championship \u2013 they beat France in the semi-final, too. He and Mikel Merino were midfield partners that day in Katerini, Greece. Unai Sim\u00f3n was on the bench. Luis de la Fuente was coach. \u201cLuis hasn\u2019t changed at all,\u201d Rodri says. \u201cThat\u2019s where he began to build everything we see now.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodri was 19 then; he is 30 now. This hasn\u2019t been an easy season or tournament. It hasn\u2019t been like the Europoean Championship, where Spain<\/a> blew everyone away from the start, but Rodri trusts that things are coming together at the right time. That includes him: he admits that, following the torn cruciate ligament that forced him to hobble off the pitch at half-time in the Euro 2024 final in summer that year and hobble on to the stage with crutches to collect the Ballon d\u2019Or that autumn, last season was about becoming himself again. Grateful for Manchester City\u2019s understanding, slowly improving since arriving here, now he believes he is there.<\/p>\n Rodri profile<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI feel good and I\u2019m happy about the team\u2019s growth, which is so important at tournaments,\u201d Rodri says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the feel of things as we went, and now we\u2019re in a good moment. I see a team that\u2019s as competitive as [they were] at the Euros. The form people were in [when we arrived] is different, the physical condition. That\u2019s why I kept saying it would be a long tournament, that we would have to \u2018chew\u2019 on it, become a good version of ourselves. We can see that now. If we can continue this progression, we can reach our level but what I would underline is how competitive this team is.<\/p>\n \u201cFrance have great attacking qualities, but I\u2019d also highlight their defensive strength. They defend well in a low block, they\u2019re very physical, very aggressive. We\u2019ll have to take the game to where we want it. It\u2019s rare for any game to finish 5-4 like last year and we can\u2019t allow that to fool us, to think this will be something it won\u2019t. If only it could be like that! But I don\u2019t think it will be. We\u2019ll see a stronger team, harder to score against. World Cups are different. And I don\u2019t know that an open game, a back-and-forth like that, suits us. We\u2019ll have to control more. This is a big challenge against one of the teams playing the best and we\u2019re looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodri\u2019s shirt in the dressing room. Photograph: Sarah Stier\/Fifa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n One man \u2013 one kid \u2013 left a huge mark on those matches and he seems destined to do so again. Lamine Yamal was 16 when he scored an outrageous goal in the semi-final<\/a> as Spain went on to be crowned European champions. He was 17 last summer, when he scored twice more against France to reach the Nations League final. Tipped to be the star this summer, his impact hasn\u2019t been so explosive here, so far. He keeps saying his time is coming, as if trying to convince himself too. On Monday, the day before facing France again, he turns 19.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cAt 19, I would be in halls at university,\u201d Rodri says. \u201cThere would be the occasional little party that I couldn\u2019t possibly tell you about.\u201d He is laughing now, but there is a serious point to be made: about exposure, pressure, expectation. At Lamine Yamal\u2019s age, the European Championship that Rodri won was with the under-19s, in front of 3,812 people. He hadn\u2019t made his Villarreal debut. Each day he would lug his bike on to the local train to head from lectures to training. His classmates didn\u2019t know he was a footballer, let alone the entire world. When his wife-to-be found out, she kept him at arm\u2019s length until one day, watching a cartoon together, she gave in. \u201cMine was a totally different \u2018film\u2019 to the one that Lamine is living,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s life, it\u2019s football,\u201d Rodri adds, and it\u2019s not always easy. \u201cLamine showed so much maturity at the Euros<\/a>. He\u2019s two years older now, and you\u2019ve seen what he\u2019s capable of, so maybe it doesn\u2019t impress you so much. But at his age, two years on, I was just starting out. I hadn\u2019t even played professionally yet. He\u2019s a kid, he\u2019s shown such maturity, but he still has things he can improve: in understanding the moments of the game, say. Which is normal because of his age. We all know the level he has.<\/p>\n \u201cThe manager said it best. The way to help Lamine is keep him calm. He needs to calm that anxiety, that urge, he sometimes has to show what he can do. He\u2019s so important for us, with and without the ball. He\u2019s an intelligent boy. But he\u2019s 19 and there are times when you have to calm him in games. He has so much football inside that he wants to bring out; it\u2019s about finding the right moment. Against France, we hope he can be important.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodri and Lamine Yamal in the quarter-final win against Belgium. Photograph: Sarah Stier\/Fifa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Does he listen? It would be easy for an absurdly talented teenager to turn off, to not take too kindly to being told what to do. To think: here comes that pain in the arse again. \u201cNo, no, not at all, far from it,\u201d Rodri says. \u201cHe always listens, he\u2019s always prepared to improve, mature. He\u2019s very self-critical, so demanding of himself. Wingers can sometimes get into that dynamic where it feels like referees aren\u2019t blowing fouls on you and you tend to stop. I insist that he carries on. Don\u2019t stop. He\u2019s a boy who listens, who always wants to learn. He\u2019s a role model.\u201d<\/p>\n Nor is it just Lamine Yamal. Rodri is on top of all of them, more even than before. De la Fuente likes to repeat that the national team is a family, not so much made up of good players as good people. At the European Championship, leadership was shared by three men. Rodri was football. Dani Carvajal was competitiveness. \u00c1lvaro Morata was empathy<\/a>. But Carvajal and Morata have departed, leaving Rodri with the arm band and a deeper sense of duty, a broader responsibility.<\/p>\n That\u2019s seen in endless little details and in trying to bring together 26 players, many of whom do not play but all of whom contribute and can affect the group for better or worse. David Raya, Joan Garc\u00eda, Eric Garc\u00eda, V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz, \u00c1lex Grimaldo and Mart\u00edn Zubimendi have not had a minute. Marc Pubill has had just four, Borja Iglesias two. Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz is a three-time champion of Europe for club or country, and has begun four games on the bench. Pedri was a substitute against Belgium. Merino has started only once; he has scored the winner two games running<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m not going to lie; it\u2019s hard,\u201d Grimaldo said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe figure of captain is important: leadership is vital on the pitch but especially off it,\u201d Rodri says. \u201cOn the pitch, my role is practically the same: I\u2019ve always tried to lead from my position. Off the pitch it\u2019s the captain who lays out a path for the group. At times of doubt, it is down to him to bring calm to the group. I\u2019ve tried to absorb what the dressing-room leaders did, those different roles. We miss Carva and \u00c1lvaro but I\u2019m trying to communicate what I learnt from them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou try to be close to those players who aren\u2019t playing. It\u2019s a personal thing. We\u2019ve all been through it, we know it\u2019s part of football. You can\u2019t say too much but you support them, keep them involved. Think how you would like to be treated and do the same. Important players don\u2019t always have to start. The other day, Fabi\u00e1n starts and is spectacular, scoring. Then Pedri comes on and gives the team what it needed: that finesse, that stability. Mikel is an example.\u201d<\/p>\n So here they are: 100 games down, four to go, the culmination of, well, everything really. Champions League, European Championship, Ballon d\u2019Or \u2026 World Cup-winning captain? \u201cThe highest thing you can aspire to,\u201d Rodri says. \u201cThat\u2019s the challenge, and it\u2019s only been done once in history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m not that bad,\u201d Rodri Hern\u00e1ndez says. It\u2019s the morning after the World Cup\u2019s 100th game and in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-797537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782314652_139_500.jpg\")
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