Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has ruled out Barcelona goalkeeper Juan Garcia’s starting place for La Roja at the 2026 World Cup.
Garcia received his first call-up to the Spanish national team this past March, and expectations were high for a fierce competition between him and Arsenal’s David Raya for the starting spot in the tournament in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
In the first friendly of the current international break, De la Fuente opted to start Athletic Bilbao’s Unai Simón, with Raya remaining on the bench for the full 90 minutes. Garcia watched the match from the stands.
When asked after the game about the goalkeeping situation and the controversy surrounding it, De la Fuente replied, “Unai Simón deserves our trust and doesn’t need to be reaffirmed.”
He added, “We have three other very good goalkeepers as well. In England, they say Raya is the best goalkeeper in the world, and you don’t ask about him much.”
From De la Fuente’s comments, it’s clear the coach intends for Simon to remain Spain’s first-choice goalkeeper at the World Cup, and that García’s best chance of becoming the third-choice goalkeeper for the Euro 2024 champions, behind Raya, is highly likely.
