LOS ANGELES -- Javi Martínez told a story about how he woke up in the middle of the night before he and Spain won the FIFA World Cup final in 2010 because he was starving.
"There were a series of snacks kept in the players' corridor," he recalled. But as he went to satisfy his midnight munchies, he heard a noise.
Upon investigation he found a group of five senior teammates -- Iker Casillas, Gerard Piqué, David Villa among them -- playing cards, having a laugh and drinking hot chocolate long after potential World Cup winners should have been tucked in bed.
Martínez remembers saying to himself: "Look at how relaxed these guys are! We're going to win the final tonight for sure!"
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For the past few weeks while embedded with the Spain squad during their 2026 World Cup campaign, I can tell a similar story to Martínez's, which came as La Roja travelled from Dallas to L.A. following their 1-0 victory over Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in the round of 16.
It had been a steely test that required an injury-time winner from Mikel Merino, but no extra time was required, and the Iberian derby was played in a climate-controlled stadium. Technically, the tournament's second favorites had been through a much less draining experience than some of the other big-name nations suffered.
Luis de la Fuente's players were pretty bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the following morning when they did an 11 a.m. workout at the Cotton Bowl, about a 10-minute drive from their downtown Dallas hotel. But by the time the team boarded the flight to LAX, there were several players who were stretched out on their seats before takeoff -- training shoes shed, heads on pillows, and aiming for a late-afternoon siesta.
One of the things that surprised me most when I was inside the Spain locker room on July 11, 2010, after the team had won the World Cup, was that the atmosphere was pretty calm, and not at all raucous. Having danced around the Soccer City pitch, sought out loved ones in the crowd and gone back inside with the trophy, many of the newly crowned world champions managed a brief sing-song, and that was it. It was nothing like the eventual outpouring of emotions which came the following day, when they paraded the trophy around Madrid.
It took me aback that the huge effort that they'd all just put into beating Netherlands 1-0 over 120 minutes caused them to catch their breath, to reflect and take it all in rather than explode in joyous release.
That flight to L.A. hit me with a similar feeling. The final was still some way off, but the Portugal hurdle was a big deal and, subconsciously, I'd expected buoyancy, noise, jokes and exuberance. But the players were temporarily on low-battery mode, soaking up a few hours of quiet time when they could put aside the continuous demands of football's version of scaling the north face of the Eiger.
That was, until the California Highway Patrol sped Spain's convoy the short distance from LAX to Manhattan Beach. It was already late evening when the majority of the squad discovered that their new hotel had a nine-hole golf course literally at their back door, evoking the kind of eruption of noise, energy and hijinks you might get when a school trip reaches its destination.
Several groups of players were jostling, joking and hustling to get onto the first tee and smack golf balls into the gathering gloom. There were a few fourball groups out there, some as far as the fourth hole, by the time total darkness fell. It was a sign of how much Spain's players absolutely love being together, how they compete all the time and, energy-sapping matches aside, how they're having the time of their lives right now.
Players' families are in and out of the camp on a regular basis, and the collective bonhomie that outsiders are required to take for granted is 100% true in this case. And from this spirit of togetherness comes Spain's big chance of beating France, and then either England or Argentina, to win this World Cup.
I say that not to diminish the glittering ability that is stamped right across the European champions' 26-man squad. In fact, I'm wholly convinced that, on form, Spain are by far the best national team on the planet. By far.
But facts are facts: Lamine Yamal (who turned 19 on Monday) hadn't played a 90-minute match for 76 days between his injury in LaLiga against Celta and his full match in that Portugal victory in Dallas on July 6. Winger Nico Williams has had one brutal injury after another, and after being hacked down by Uruguay's Agustín Canobbio in Spain's final Group H game, he wrote a social media post that made it sound like his tournament was in severe jeopardy.
Fabián Ruiz and Mikel Merino have fought back from serious midseason injuries, while Marcos Llorente said that it was "obviously impossible" for almost any of them to be at 100% in midsummer after long, relentless club seasons.
So like some other great nations playing in this tournament, Spain aren't quite at their peak -- nor are they quite as dynamic and breathlessly brilliant as they were in winning the UEFA European Championship two years ago. But they are resolute, they are a family and are unbeaten in competitive, 90-minute matches since losing to Scotland at Hampden in March 2023, de la Fuente's second game in charge.
Merino has obviously caught everyone's imagination and passion -- again. His late goals for consecutive victories against Portugal and Belgium have been the stuff of dreams, the explosions of magic that absolutely define major tournaments.
But I think some things that he has outlined across the tournament has the dual role of explaining how Spain got here ... and why they can legitimately still be considered favorites to win this World Cup.
To set the scene: Spain's first day of training at their Chattanooga Baylor Academy camp was an open session for the public. It was pretty lengthy and fairly testing. De la Fuente didn't mollycoddle his players. But as the practice ended, Merino took himself off to an adjacent pitch, brought a few balls with him, a couple of training staff and forced himself through some ultra-intense extra fitness, stamina, sharpness and finishing drills.
Having seen how hard he was working to get his sharpness back after suffering a foot fracture that ruled him out for much of Arsenal's Premier League title-winning season, I told him he was going to be rewarded imminently by scoring goals. He liked hearing it at the time.
SPAIN TAKES THE LATE LEAD IN CHAOTIC FASHION 🤯
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 10, 2026
Mikel Merino is the super sub once again for La Roja! pic.twitter.com/oXE2gDVa14
"When I'm on the bench I'm getting prepared mentally and when a chance falls to me I'm absolutely convinced that I'm going to score," Merino has subsequently said. "Then the feeling is of huge relief, especially after five tough months out injured. It's hard for all of us who are on the bench because we are competitive and we've reached the elite because of our attitudes and self-belief. But this isn't the group for you if you're going to sit there pouting.
"All of us who would start in our club teams but haven't been starting here know that we can affect the result, win the games, and that shows. It's very complicated, but the key is to achieve a balance. Anyone in our positions needs to have a strong ego but to have humility too.
"Just because you've got a strong self-belief doesn't make you think that you're superior to anyone around you. You need to be convinced that your teammate's benefit is your benefit if you're in one of these short, knockout tournaments. We all pull for each other -- in training, in our spare time, when we travel ... even at breakfast. There are jokes, there's unity, there's very strong team spirit."
You can see it, you can feel it, and you can hear it. There are games of ragingly competitive table tennis, team gaming tournaments on their handheld devices, croquet, golf and of course the collejas: when a player walks through a guard of honor from his teammates and receives playful slaps around the head to mark a special day, like a birthday or a return to full training.
Merino, Rodri, Williams, Yamal and even de la Fuente are among those who have had to run the gauntlet this summer. It all adds up to that sought-after status of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
Over the past two summers, in the semifinals of Euro 2024 and the UEFA Nations League, Spain vs. France has produced 12 goals and two wins for La Roja. Tuesday's World Cup semifinal, on Bastille Day, will carry the narrative that France's four musketeers (Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Kylian Mbappé and Michael Olise) make coach Didier Deschamps' team stick-on winners.
I'm not so sure.
Their opponents have their own powerful "all for one" mentality that can push them on to New Jersey, and their second World Cup final.