Spain appoint Hierro following Lopetegui sacking

Spain manager Luis de la Fuente said on Wednesday that his team were eager to get back on the pitch after winning Euro 2024 in July and that his players' hunger for constant improvement means there will be no let-up in intensity.

"This group is insatiable, competitive, relentless. They are very motivated to keep winning. The best is yet to come," De la Fuente told a press conference ahead of his side's Nations League opener at Serbia on Thursday.

"I see the players very focused and not being overconfident, with ambition and their feet on the ground, they only want to grow and improve. It won't be hard for us to move on to the next one."

On the back of a remarkable European Championship campaign where they won all seven games en route to lifting the trophy with a 2-1 victory in the final over England, De la Fuente said that the secret of Spain's success was sharing an ambitious mentality in which winning has become an obsession.

"I have the honour of managing some exceptional footballers and my greatest merit is knowing how to manage them. We want, within an idea, to grow as team and enjoy ourselves on the pitch. But we only know one way to enjoy what we do: trying to win," De la Fuente said.

"That is why we are always working to get the best out of the players, we are here to help because the credit is all theirs. In Spain, we have an inexhaustible pool of talent and we do a great job at grassroots level. That is the path we have built for years and we are convinced that it is the right one."

After facing Serbia, Spain visit Switzerland on Sept. 8 in League A Group Four of the Nations League.

Rafael Nadal on Thursday announced he will retire after the Davis Cup finals in November, ending a career which brought 22 Grand Slam titles, global respect and inspired epic, iconic rivalries with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

"I am retiring from professional tennis. The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially," Nadal said in a video on social media.

"It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life everything has a beginning and an end."

The 38-year-old Spaniard is set to end his two decades as a professional with 92 titles and prize money alone of $135 million.

He dominated the French Open where he won 14 of his majors, his first arriving just days after his 19th birthday in 2005, his last in 2022 making him the event's oldest champion.

On the famous crushed brick of Roland Garros, he lost just three times in 115 matches.

He was also a four-time champion at the US Open and a two-time winner at the Australian Open, his first triumph coming in 2009; his second 13 years later.

Nadal also won Wimbledon twice, in 2008 and 2010 despite grass considered to be the surface most likely to expose any shortcomings in his game.

His five-set victory over Roger Federer in the 2008 championship match, which ended in almost complete darkness at the All England Club, is widely regarded as the greatest Slam final ever played.

Nadal claimed a career Golden Slam when he took Olympic Games gold in 2008. For good measure, he also won five Davis Cups.

Nadal was a five-time year-end world number one and never left the top 10 from 2005 until March this year.

In total, he spent 209 weeks in top spot and between 2004 and 2022, won at least one title every year.

In his long rivalry with close friend Federer, who retired last year, he enjoyed a 24-16 edge. Nadal surpassed Federer's mark of 20 majors in Australia last year.

He and Djokovic, the all-time leader with 24 men's Grand Slam titles, met 60 times with the Serb just ahead by two.

An underpowered Nadal was swept aside by Djokovic in straight sets in their final meeting at this year's Paris Olympics.

Despite his record-breaking career, Nadal was plagued by injuries, a painful by-product of his all-action, brutal-hitting style.

PHOTO: AFP

- Injury-plagued-

Ankle, wrist, knee, elbow and abdominal problems caused him to sit out 16 Grand Slam tournaments and withdraw mid-event on five occasions at the majors.

At the 2022 French Open, he admitted that his title charge would have been impossible without daily pain-killing injections in his foot.

Nadal then underwent a medical procedure which required nerves in the foot to be burned to allow him to extend his career.

However, the creaks in the body were getting louder.

An abdominal strain forced him out of Wimbledon where he had made the semi-finals.

He was then struck down with a hip injury at the Australian Open in January as he crashed out in the second round -- his earliest exit at the majors in seven years.

His wife Mery was in tears as she watched him struggle through to the end.

Nadal possibly sensed the writing was on the wall in the Laver Cup in London two years ago when he played alongside Federer in the great Swiss star's final tournament.

At 41, and unable to shake off a knee injury, Federer called it quits.

The two men wept and even grasped each other's hands as the Federer era ended.

"When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving too," said Nadal.

After spending over a decade bogged down in disappointment, Spain waltzed their way back to football's peak by reaching Sunday's Euro 2024 final in Berlin.

Winning two European Championships in 2008 and 2012, either side of their 2010 World Cup triumph, La Roja were set to dominate football for years to come.

However, they fell from grace at astonishing speed. The players destined to replace their golden generation fell desperately short.

Spain's 2014 World Cup defence ended in early humiliation, battered 5-1 by the Netherlands, crashing out in the group stage.

The two-time defending champions were eliminated by Italy in the Euro 2016 last-16, with newspaper Marca labelling it "The End" for Vicente del Bosque's La Roja.

Spain fell at the same stage in the 2018 World Cup against Russia on penalties, completing over 1,000 passes but failing to hurt the limited hosts.

A better showing at Euro 2020 took a young side to the semi-finals but the 2022 World Cup last-16 defeat by Morocco was another painful exit.

However, the Spanish football federation believed the team was close to where they needed to be.

They replaced coach Luis Enrique with Luis de la Fuente, who had coached national youth sides for years with success.

Despite early jitters, including a 2-0 defeat by Scotland last year, Spain stuck with their little-known coach and are now reaping the rewards.

De la Fuente earned their first silverware in 11 years by lifting the Nations League last summer, pledging it was only the beginning.

And so it proved, with La Roja the standout Euros team, dominating the toughest group featuring defending champions Italy, before beating hosts Germany and France.

What they have achieved seems remarkable given their line-up boasts few recognisable stars beyond Manchester City midfielder Rodri.

Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal, 16, will dazzle the football world for years to come and could earn that billing, but he is only just starting his career.

On the opposite flank Nico Williams has also burst into the limelight and may get a big move this summer from Athletic Bilbao.

Elsewhere the team features many 'misfits', including Marc Cucurella who has struggled at Chelsea, Saudi Arabia-based Aymeric Laporte, and others who are not standouts for their clubs.

However, their lack of superstars poses no problems. "I have 26 great players and I'm just lucky that they are Spanish," said De la Fuente.

Unlike final opponents England, whose coach Gareth Southgate is sometimes reluctant to replace struggling icons, or France building around a sub-par Kylian Mbappe, Spain accept everyone is on an equal footing.

"The big difference to all the (other) countries is that we are a team and there is no one leader above the rest," explained Barcelona's Pedri before the tournament.

'A long process' 

De la Fuente, more pragmatic than his predecessor, is profiting from his willingness to try different approaches.

Spain still enjoy possession but also release the explosive Yamal and Williams, fire in crosses and let them take risks to beat their markers.

While other coaches might have opted for one winger and a possession-friendly midfielder on the other flank, the 63-year-old goes full throttle with both.

Luis Enrique's Spain tried to pass teams to death but at times in Euro 2024 La Roja have had less than 50 percent possession.

De la Fuente knows his players better than most of his counterparts did at the tournament, having coached the vast majority of them over the past few years.

He won the U19 Euros with Spain in 2013 and the U21 Euros in 2019, plus silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Seven of the starting line-up that day have played at Euro 2024.

"I know the players very well, what we had available to us and we needed time to do what we are seeing now," said the coach this week.

"I am not surprised by it. Cooking this up... is a long process but we knew the decisions and the path we had to take."

That continuity has proven vital in the international game where coaches do not typically have long to work with their players and has taken Spain to the verge of glory once more.

Croatian media on Monday hailed their team as heroes after the small country's historic success in reaching the World Cup final where France beat them 4-2.

"Thank you, heroes! - You gave us everything!" read the Sportske Novosti frontpage.

"'Vatreni' (the "Fiery Ones" in Croatian), you are the biggest, you are our pride, your names will remain written in gold forever!" the newspaper said.

It showed a photo of captain Luka Modric who was awarded the Golden Ball for the best player at the tournament, holding a trophy, although with a sad face after the defeat.

"Brave hearts - You made us proud," said Jutarnji List daily.

"Croatia celebrates you, you are our gold!" echoed the Vecernji List.

It noted that for the past month coach Zlatko Dalic's team "made Croatia better".

"They restored pride, pulled it out of the pessimism" reigning in the country whose economy remains among the weakest in the European Union.

More than 100,000 red-and-white-painted Croatian fans were expected to welcome the squad home later Monday in the capital Zagreb.

Belgium finished third in the World Cup, their best-ever performance, when they beat England 2-0 with an early Thomas Meunier goal and a breakaway finished by Eden Hazard in Saturday's playoff between the losing semi-finalists.

Meunier finished off a devastating move when he turned in Nacer Chadli's low cross at the far post in the fourth minute after Romelu Lukaku's pass sliced open the English defence.

Belgium, who beat England 1-0 in a group match in the tournament, were more dangerous throughout a lively first half. But England improved after the break and nearly equalised when Eric Dier got clear and chipped over Thibaut Courtois, only for Toby Alderweireld to make a sliding clearance off the line.

Belgium continued to threaten on the break and finished off the game when Kevin de Bruyne set Hazard clear and he swept his shot past Jordan Pickford.