Spain are set up for a decade of dominance: World and European champions will take some stopping as Lamine Yamal & Co. prepare to enter their peak years

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.

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.

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."

Lionel Scaloni obviously put plenty of thought into how to stop Spain in Sunday's final, but, as it transpired, the best plan he could come up with was to try to foul them at every opportunity. And Zlatan Ibrahimovic could actually empathise with Argentina's aggression and frustration.

"As a player, I remember that if I don't touch the ball, if I have an opponent that always keeps the ball, I get crazy, I lose patience and I just want to run up to them and start kicking," the former Sweden striker admitted on Fox. "They are the best football nation in the world."

And that doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.

Five-time champions Brazil still look lost under Carlo Ancelotti, there are serious questions over England's true quality and Thomas Tuchel's tactics, Argentina could be about to lose the two Lionels - Messi and Scaloni - that played such integral roles in their spell of sustained success, France have yet to take their first steps under Didier Deschamps' expected successor, Zinedine Zidane, while Jurgen Klopp has a serious job on his hands with Germany.

Spain, by complete contrast, are the picture of stability under De la Fuente, who has overseen just two competitive defeats since taking over from Luis Enrique following Spain's disappointing last-16 exit at the 2022 World Cup - and one of those losses was on penalties to Portugal in the final of the meaningless Nations League.

Crazy as it is to think about it now, but there were serious doubts over whether De la Fuente was really the right man to succeed Luis Enrique at the helm - given he'd not won any major honours at senior level during his coaching career.

However, by using the very same methods with which he won European Championships at both Under-19 and Under-21 level, De la Fuente has led Spain to their first World Cup since 2010 - and with the sixth-youngest squad at a 48-team tournament. Just imagine how good 19-year-old duo Cubarsi and Yamal might be by the time the next World Cup rolls around!

But then, to focus on individuals is kind of missing the point. As De la Fuente said, the secret of Spain's success is solidarity - not superstars. Even Yamal is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.

"He wasn't at 100 percent, he didn't have his best tournament and still Spain dominated every game - that says how good they are as a team," Ibrahimovic pointed out. "They won the World Cup without this guy performing like he normally does because when Spain starts to play, when they start passing the ball, they take your spirit away, they take your hope away."

Because as Henry said, while the players may change, the philosophy always stays the same. Spain have a very clear "idea" of how to play the game, as De la Fuente put it, and their faith in their football has put them back on top of the world.

"These players deserve everything," the coach said. "Day after day, they've showed their commitment, unity, generosity and talent."

What's truly terrifying for all of the pretenders to their throne, though, is that they're not done yet. Spain's squad still isn't satisfied, meaning there's no chance of La Roja resting on their laurels.

"The players asked me what we have left to win," De la Fuente revealed after victory over Argentina. "Together, we’ve figured out that it’s the next match in September [against England in the Nations League] because this team is relentless." Every single side that had the misfortune to come across them in North America would agree.

"In a match like this, against a team like Spain," Deschamps said of France's semi-final loss, "you have to be at your absolute maximum. France wasn't at that level." But nobody else is right now, and might not be for quite some time, because there is a very real chance that Spain could actually get stronger in the coming years. As Juan Mata told BBC Sport, "This is not only a team for the present, but also a team for the future."

Sunday, therefore, may not have been the end of the path De la Fuente talked about, but just another step towards creating a dynasty with an unprecedented decade of dominance.