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Unai Simon won the Golden Glove at the 2026 World Cup after keeping seven clean sheets in eight appearances - a truly historic achievement, and yet it would be difficult to argue that the goalkeeper played a particularly important role in Spain's success because he barely had anything to do.

As former England No.1 Joe Hart pointed out on the BBC, "No one laid a glove on Spain. They had just 10 shots on target against them in the whole tournament. Spain have got a way of playing that no one in the world has proven they can get anywhere near." And it's impossible to disagree.

Spain may not have been scintillating at the World Cup, but they were unstoppable. Some opponents may have managed to frustrate Luis de la Fuente's side, but nobody figured out how to hurt them, which begs the question, having now added a world title to the European crown they won in Germany two years ago, how many more trophies might this Spain side win in the coming years?

'Perfect clockwork'

Spain didn't play particularly well in the group stage. The opening-round draw with Cape Verde was at least partially attributed to Lamine Yamal only being fit enough to play the final 15 minutes, and his restoration to the starting line-up sparked a 4-0 rout of Saudi Arabia on matchday two.

However, even with Yamal able to play 76 minutes of the 1-0 win over Uruguay that sealed top spot in Group H, Spain still didn't look like the side that won Euro 2024 in such impressive fashion, with both Yamal and fellow winger Nico Williams hampered by hamstring problems, and Pedri underperforming.

De la Fuente wasn't concerned, though. "This is a long road and this is a team that does not concede much," he said after a third consecutive clean sheet. "They're unbeatable."

Ralf Rangnick came to the same conclusion after watching his Austria side be methodically dismantled during a 3-0 loss to Spain in the round of 32.

"There’s really not much left for them to improve," the former Manchester United manager said. "They are a perfect clockwork. I cannot remember any unforced error they made... I think Spain, today, really showed us their best performance. I would dare say that we did not only face the European champion, but the next world champion, too." And Rangnick was right.

Relentless La Roja

Spain proved a problem that nobody could solve. Not even Portugal, with Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes playing in the middle of the park, could take the ball away from Rodri & Co in their last-16 showdown in Dallas. Consequently, Spain just kept coming, the pressure eventually told, with Mikel Merino scoring an injury-time winner.

He struck again in the quarter-final win over Belgium, only this time in the 88th minute after Rudi Garcia's men had actually managed to breach De la Fuente's defence. Pau Cubarsi was at fault for Charles De Ketelaere's goal, but it didn't bother him in the slightest, and it was the teenager's spilled shot that led to Merino firing Spain into the semi-finals, where they were meant to face their toughest test of the entire tournament. However, they ended up making nullifying France's fearsome front four look easy.

'Know what they need to do'

Pretty much everyone was astounded by the sheer scale of Spain's domination in Dallas - but not former France forward Thierry Henry.

"I experienced it as a player playing against Spain, and also as a coach," the striking icon said on Fox Sports. "I also experienced as a player playing with Barcelona and you needed to understand that, the ball moves. Everyone needs to stay in their position. Trust your team-mates. Let the ball fly.

"It sounds simple but it's not. They just passed the ball around France like they were not there. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter who plays, they know what they need to do since they were nine years of age. It doesn't matter who comes in. They know. This is why I ask, who are you? What's your philosophy? What's your identity?

"So, when the guy comes in, even if it's his first cap or his 10th cap, he knows the system, because he's always played the same system. It sounds pretty simple, but you need to think about it."

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