When Sergio Camello scored for Spain U23 in the 10th minute of extra time, coach Thierry Henry left the sideline and attempted to walk back to the bench. However, there was a problem with the "captain" of France U23.
A group of players and staff from Spain U23 left the bench and ran towards Camello. At the same time, they ran through the French technical area and forced Henry to try in vain to get away from the crowd. In the end, Henry could only bow his head, endure unwanted collisions, and watch Spain win the gold medal.
Henry's experience, in many ways, is what the entire football world is going through right now. Spain's dominance at all ages, genders, and competitions is making the rest of the football world wonder if this will last long.
Just looking at the men's national team, Spain has won the UEFA Nations League last year, EURO and Olympic this year. Meanwhile, their women's team won the World Cup last year and UEFA Nations League this year. In addition, their U19 teams, both men and women, have won European championships this year.
This is an impressive achievement, even more so when the success of Spain extends to multiple levels. The men's Olympic football tournament, mainly a competition for players under 23, is just another reminder that Spain has an incredibly rich talent pool.
While some teams at the 2024 Olympic Games have maximized the three over-age players allowed, Spain does not rely on this. Juan Miranda, Sergio Gomez, and Abel Ruiz are just mid-tier names and not familiar faces in major competitions.
Instead, the spark in Spain's U23 team comes from rising stars. Fermin Lopez (21 years old) of Barcelona and Alex Baena (23 years old) of Villarreal combined to score three of Spain's five goals against France. Meanwhile, Camello (23 years old) also shone with a double.
Football fans may feel that this image is familiar. Spain's men's national team once dominated in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Between the World Cup 2010 title was a string of consecutive EURO titles in 2008 and 2012. The La Roja version at that time always performed hundreds of passes per game and completely dominated their opponents.
From a personnel perspective, it's impossible to ignore the continuity that Spain has built in its coaching staff. Luis de la Fuente, the coach who won the EURO, is a long-time national youth team coach, winning the U19 and U21 EURO titles with Spain before moving to the top level.
Santi Denia, the coach who led the Olympic team to a gold medal, has a similar background. He is currently the U21 Spain coach and previously spent 8 years as U17 coach and 4 years as U19 coach.
While Spain was previously known for its tiki-taka style, they are not always in control of the ball now. France U23 actually controlled 55% of the ball in the Olympic final, but Spain won the match.
