Overview
Spain enters the 2026 World Cup as one of the top candidates for the championship. Luis de la Fuente's team is aiming for the second world title in history, after winning in South Africa in 2010.
Since that year's championship, La Roja has continuously disappointed in the last three World Cups. They were eliminated right from the group stage in 2014, before stopping in the round of 16 in 2018 and 2022.
However, Spain currently possesses a solid foundation to nurture the hope of conquering the world. The bullfighting team is the defending EURO champion, and also experienced an unbeaten 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with 5 wins and 1 draw, ranked above Turkey, Georgia and Bulgaria.
La Roja's form is also very impressive when they have only lost one of their last 28 matches in all competitions in more than two years. The only defeat was a penalty shootout loss to Portugal in the 2025 UEFA Nations League final.
Before going to Mexico to play their last friendly match against Peru, Spain will host Iraq at home with the goal of extending their 16-match unbeaten streak at their home ground. However, they were once held to a goalless draw by Egypt in their most recent home match in March.
Meanwhile, Iraq is preparing for their second World Cup appearance and the first since 1986. The West Asian team has overcome a difficult qualifying journey before defeating Bolivia 2-1 in the intercontinental play-off in April to win a ticket to North America.
Under Graham Arnold, Iraq showed positive signs with 9 wins after the last 14 international matches. After two consecutive defeats against Algeria and Jordan at the end of 2025, they returned with victories against Bolivia and Andorra.
Iraq will use friendly matches with Spain and Venezuela to complete preparations before entering Group I of the 2026 World Cup, where they will face France, Senegal and Norway.
Although it was just a friendly match, Iraq was still significantly underestimated compared to Spain. In the only previous confrontation at the 2009 Confederations Cup, La Roja won 1-0 thanks to David Villa's goal.
Personnel situation
Lamine Yamal is likely not to participate in the friendly match with Iraq as he is still recovering from a hamstring injury. Similarly, Nico Williams and Mikel Merino are also not in the best physical condition after problems with their groin and feet.
Luis de la Fuente is likely to rotate the squad when David Raya, Martin Zubimendi and Fabian Ruiz just participated in the Champions League final last weekend. In goal, Unai Simon is considered a bright choice to start.
On the Iraqi side, goalkeeper and captain Jalal Hassan is facing the milestone of 101 caps for the national team. Facing him may be the defense including Hussein Ali, Zaid Tahseen, Akam Hashim and Merchas Doski.
Expected lineup:
Simon, Porro, Pubill, Cubarsi, Cucurella, Gavi, Rodri, Pedri, Pino, Oyarzabal, Torres.
Hassan, H. Ali, Tahseen, Hashim, Doski, Amyn, Al-Ammari, Sher, Bayesh, Al-Hamadi, Hussein.
The match between Spain and Iraq takes place at 2:00 AM on June 5th (Vietnam time).
