The Blueprint Was (And Still Is) There

“It’s not really about the tactics, the X’s and O’s or anything like that. It’s more about how the players feel when they get onto the pitch” – Lee Carsley

Can it be a coincidence that sat in each dug out of the 2026 World Cup final, were two managers who had been part of their nation’s coaching set up for the best part of a decade?

Can it be a coincidence that both managers have risen through the ranks with a lot of the players that ended up either starting or coming off the bench in the pinnacle of the world’s game?

Lionel Scaloni retired from professional football in 2015 and less than a year later he found his tutelage working as the assistant coach to fellow Argentine Jorge Sampaoli at Sevilla. When Sampaoli was appointed as Argentina’s head coach, Scaloni followed. By the time Sampaoli was sacked after his country bowed out early of the 2018 World Cup in an all-too-familiar fashion, it was the virtually unknown Scaloni who was given the unforgiving task of restoring Argentina back at the top of the football world. You know the story from here.

Luis De La Fuente’s coaching journey, although very different in some ways, also echoes a similar trend. For a decade, from 2000 to 2011 he was coaching in various academy sides around Spain such as Athletic Club and Sevilla. In 2013 he joined the Spanish football federation as their under-19 coach. 2 years later he had led this side to becoming the u19 European Championship winners.

In 2018 he was promoted to the under 21s and similar story dutifully followed. Spain won the U21 Euros in 2019 and in 2021 they finished runners up to Brazil in the Tokyo Olympic games. After Luis Enrique and Spain parted ways following their 2021 Euro quarter final exit, it was Luis De La Fuente who was trusted to turn an ideologically ancient Spain team into one of football’s powerhouses once again. And just like with Scaloni, you know how the rest goes.

In 2023, Lee Carsley won the u21 Euros with England, beating Spain 1-0 in a tense and vicious final. This game was the culmination of a tournament where he saw his side win 6 games from 6 and conceding 0 goals. Not only that, he did so in a manner that has not been seen before and hasn’t been seen since.

England were playing attractive, high-tempo football. Curtis Jones and Angel Gomes were running the midfield. Anthony Gordon and Morgan Gibbs-White were being used as split strikers with Cole Palmer and Emil Smith-Rowe providing the creativity behind them. No traditional defensive midfielders, wingers or strikers and yet it’s the best football any England side have played.

If you watched this tournament you’d know. It was free-flowing, one-touch, relational football where players would find themselves in a multitude of positions within the space of 5 minutes. Risks were taken constantly and they were playing with expression and without fear. How many of these statements can ring true for the England World Cup team?

This worked because Lee Carsley had been familiar with this set of players, and developing footballers – for over a decade. Before he was appointed England manager in 2021, he was working across England’s u18,19 and 20 age groups and before that, he had many different roles all centring around youth football working with clubs like Brentford, Man City and Birmingham.

De La Fuente had worked with Rodri, Unai Simon, Dani Olmo, Eric Garcia, Fabian Ruiz and Mikel Oyarzabal at youth level before winning the World Cup with them. He’s known these players for more than 10 years personally. That sort of thing is invaluable when it comes to squad building. Knowing exactly where each player is at his best, how they deal with adversity and having a deep understanding of each of their personalities is why Spain for the last 4 years have played at a level which is more than the sum of their parts on paper.

Luis Scaloni has been in the Argentinian coaching setup for 8 years and just like De La Fuente, he has an all-encompassing view and depth of knowledge on core of national team squad which has been to three major back-to-back tournament finals.

The England FA appointing Thomas Tuchel as national team head coach reeked of arrogance. Openly dismissing the fact that no foreign coach has ever won the World Cup and just chucking the most money at whoever the most accomplished available manager was.

Instead of giving a real chance, not just 6 meaningless friendly and qualification games, to someone who had proven they can win with England whilst playing attractive football, we thought we could fast-track the whole process. Carsley would worked with players like Anthony Gordon, Morgan Gibbs-White, Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Levi Colwill during this tournament.

All players that were either there at the World Cup or many would say should’ve been. He’s known the majority of the 2026 squad for a lot longer than a German manager who was appointed 18 months ago and harks on about how important unity and companionship is despite leaving out the core of the most unified English side there has been in decades.

The blueprint was there. There’s a reason Argentina and Spain play better than their squad looks on paper and there’s a reason we don’t. They have a manager that knows their players inside and out, part of a long and patient process which has bloomed countless flowers. Time and time again we try and cheat the system. Time and time again we fail.

With Gareth Southgate, we saw this system working. An improbable semi-final in 2018 followed by back to back Euros finals. In the end he proved that perhaps his lack off assertiveness in games meant he wasn’t the man to take us over the final hurdle. But that is what Carsley proved he had in 2023 and 2025. All that was needed was a slight tweak - a minute changing of the guards that improved us stylistically without completely jeopardising continuation.

Maybe Lee Carsley really wasn’t 100% about becoming the England senior coach, but it felt the FA’s mind was already up before Southgate even stepped down. Elite club managers? Does it really matter on the world’s stage?