Aymeric Laporte headed into Spain's Group E finale having not missed a beat at the heart of Luis Enrique's defence – but his overall World Cup focus has been sketchy at best and that is by his own admission.
The Manchester City defender, who has been joined by club-mate Rodri at the heart of the Spanish backline, has indicated he is not paying attention to the tournament far beyond caring about La Roja's next game.
Former Athletic Bilbao star Laporte said he had not "even looked" at who might await Spain in the last-16 stage and had "no idea" of the possibilities of who that might be.
It is perhaps an unusual attitude for a professional footballer, but Laporte appears to fall into the category of sportsmen who are stunningly proficient in what they do, but not naturally inclined to take their work home with them.
He told the Guardian: "I'm not a football addict. Honestly, I don't like watching matches."
The 28-year-old accepts he is not the sharpest at keeping tabs on his team's workload, even at City.
"Honestly, when I play for City, I don't even know what time kick-off is," he said. "My family call and say: hey, what time tomorrow? [I say] 'I don't know.'"
However, Laporte has done little wrong on the pitch in Spain's opening games, a 7-0 win over Costa Rica and a 1-1 draw with Germany.
Heading into Thursday's run of games, of all defenders to have played at least 90 minutes in this World Cup, Laporte had averaged the most passes per 90 minutes (125.5 – 11.31 more than anyone else) and the most passes in his own half (89 – 18 more than the next player on the list).
He had had the third-most touches per 90 minutes (132.5) among defenders, with only team-mate Jordi Alba (136.23) and Germany's Nico Schlotterbeck (132.58) having more.
It helps that Spain play in a similar vein to City, with their possession-based game one that suits Laporte, and it can only help to have Rodri with him, even if for their club the former Atletico Madrid man is typically deployed in midfield.
Laporte had no doubt Rodri would be an ideal fit for defensive duties, and he is coaching his friend through games.
They had another job to do against Japan on Thursday, with Spain knowing a draw would be enough to secure progress.
"Rodri's intelligent, he knows how to adapt," Laporte said. "It's different for him. He seeks advice, asks a lot of questions; it's all very natural.
"We've only let in one and we hope there aren't any more. Basically, I answer the questions he asks. Do I step out? When do we drop? Do I have to go with the striker when he runs into the space? Do I hold? Do I follow? Do I step out with the ball?
"He asks lots of questions: being firm, decision-making, with the ball, without it. And I try to help as best I can."
Former Soca Warriors stalwart Shaka Hislop points to lack of talent, depth in T&T squad as Dwight Yorke's biggest test
Though Dwight Yorke is committed to throwing his best efforts into his new role as senior Soca Warriors Head coach, former teammate Shaka Hislop believes it is the talent within Trinidad and Tobago’s setup that will ultimately determine the success of his tenure.
Yorke, the former Manchester United and Soca Warriors striker, was given a mandate by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) to qualify the Twin Island Republic to the 2026 Fifa World Cup or face the boot and the 53-year-old has declared his readiness to give of his best.
“Rest assured, I will give 100. I feel very calm, very excited at the same time, but fully aware of the challenge that is lying ahead. There’s lots of hard work to be done,” Yorke told TTFA media interview shortly after arriving in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday.
“Not just me, the backroom stuff, the players to get where we want to get... obviously, trying to qualify for the World Cup. And yes, along the way, I’m sure they’re going to be some testing times for us. But that’s the challenges that lies ahead. So once we embrace it, once we are fully aware of it, and once we get the support, I fully believe, I’m fully confident that we can get the job done,” he added.
However, Hislop, while welcoming Yorke’s appointment, knows all too well that coaches coach but the results will ultimately come from how the players perform on match days.
In fact, Hislop, who along with Yorke represented the Soca Warriors at the 2006 global showpiece, was not shy to admit that the current squad lacks depth and sufficient talent, which he believes represent the toughest aspect of the puzzle at this point. This, as aside from AEK Athens striker Levi Garcia, Yorke’s current crop is made up of mostly lower leagues or home-based players.
“We’ve kind of stumbled from coach to coach over the last four or five years, probably dating back to Stephen Hart when he was in charge. But I think the TTFA got it right this time. That’s with the greatest respect to our teammate Dennis Lawrence and Angus Eve, who have both been in charge of the team, but results really didn’t go their way,” Hislop shared during a podcast.
“I think the big challenge for Dwight coming in with this squad is it’s not a very talented squad, if I may say so... certainly, on paper, and results would bear that out. How he’s able to find the right pieces for this puzzle is going to be Dwight’s biggest test,” the ESPN analyst added.
That said, Hislop also pointed to the significance of match fitness and, as such, urged the TTFA to ensure Yorke and his players consistently engage warm-up games during the November 2024 and March 2025 international windows.
Trinidad and Tobago currently sit second in Group B on four points, two behind Costa Rica, with St. Kitts and Nevis (three points), Grenada (one point), and the Bahamas (zero point) completing the group. Qualifying action will resume in June 2025.
“We’ve got some games during the international window as well. We’ve got the November window, which will be Dwight’s first time on the sidelines. So we have opportunity to see the squad, to make adjustments, to try to bring in players before things get very serious in terms of qualifiers,” Hislop noted.
'Please, doubt us' – Dias dares Man City's critics
Ruben Dias has dared Manchester City's critics to "doubt us" after the Premier League champions' four-game losing streak.
Pep Guardiola lost four straight matches in all competitions for the first time in his managerial career as City capitulated in a 2-1 loss to Brighton on Saturday.
That loss came on the back of a 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP – coached by new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim – in the Champions League, as well as a reverse to Bournemouth in the Premier League and an EFL Cup exit at the hands of Tottenham.
City are five points behind league leaders Liverpool, but Dias shrugged off the doubters.
"I would say, please doubt us, doubt us, feel welcome to do so," the centre-back told reporters.
"When we did the treble, we even called it the dark January. We had a tough period. But it is what it is.
"What matters is how you bounce back from these moments. That's why our team has won so much because in moments of difficulty, the characters come up and we stay together.
"We don't find people to kill, we find people to bring into the cause and fight together.
"That's what we need to do once again. Until it's done, it's not done."
City's losing run combined with Liverpool's excellent form has seen a swing in the Opta supercomputer's predictions.
The model now has Liverpool as the favourites, with a 60.3% chance of winning the title.
Premier League MD11: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
The final international break of 2024 is here, and we can safely say the Premier League is starting to take shape.
Opta's supercomputer now has Liverpool, who are five points clear at the top following their win over Aston Villa on Saturday, as the favourites to go on and win the title.
Manchester City lost a fourth straight game in all competitions as they went down 2-1 at Brighton, while Chelsea and Arsenal are third and fourth respectively after sharing the points.
When assessing the underlying metrics, it looks like Sunday's draw at Stamford Bridge was a fair result, but that was not the case across the board this weekend.
Here, we pick out the lucky winners and unlucky losers from matchday 11.
Lucky winners: Manchester United
Manchester United are now under new management, with Ruben Amorim officially starting as head coach on Monday. But interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured he went out with a high as the Red Devils beat Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday.
However, it is fair to say United were rather fortunate to net three times at Old Trafford, with the data suggesting they did not even create chances worthy of one goal, never mind three.
United's expected goals (xG) was 0.69, the third-lowest total in the league this weekend and behind Leicester's 0.77.
Bruno Fernandes scored one and set up another on his 250th appearance for the club, either side of Victor Kristiansen's own goal, but from 13 shots, United, who had only 17 touches in Leicester's box, really did not create much in the way of quality opportunities.
Indeed, their attacking quality instead told, with Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho finishing well. At the other end, Leicester failed to make their moments count, despite hitting the target with five of their six shots.
Spare a thought for Erik ten Hag, given when he was in charge, United's attack was underperforming. Now Amorim just needs to pick up where Van Nistelrooy left off...
Unlucky losers: Manchester City
Man City are suddenly the crisis club, having lost four straight games for the first time since August 2006. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, has lost four games in a row in all competitions for the very first time in his managerial career.
Erling Haaland also lost a Premier League match in which he scored a goal for the very first time, having put City ahead before Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley clinched the points for Brighton.
Brighton finished with 2.29 xG, so they did deserve to score at least twice. However, City can still consider themselves unfortunate, given their 2.22 xG was the third-highest of any team across the weekend.
Their post-shot expected goals on target (xGoT) also rose to 2.98, showing that Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was on fine form.
City also created five big chances, missing four of them, and hit the woodwork once. That being said, they conceded eight big chances, with Brighton letting them off for six of those, so it was not a good day at the office for Guardiola.
Unlucky losers: Bournemouth
If Man City were unfortunate, then the team to have created the highest xG (2.61) this past weekend – Bournemouth – can consider themselves hard done by.
Andoni Iraola claimed his team were worthy of the three points against Brentford, despite the Cherries losing 3-2, and the underlying metrics suggest the Spaniard was fair in his assessment.
Only Tottenham (35 in their loss against Ipswich Town) had more touches in the opponent's box than Bournemouth's 34 at the Gtech Community Stadium, but Iraola's side were made to pay for some dismal finishing.
Their xGoT dropped to 1.68, while Brentford's rose from 1.48 xG to 1.84 xGoT – essentially, the level of finishing from Brentford's players increased the likelihood they would score, while Bournemouth's finishing was below what would have been anticipated based on the quality of chances they had. That is further backed up by the fact the Cherries only got three of their 15 attempts on target.
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