Spain's Final World Cup Rehearsal Comes Against Peru

Spain lost the trophy to Portugal on penalties in the Nations League final after the European Championship victory, and then unexpectedly drew 1-1 with Iraq in their first preparation match. While this result created question marks among La Roja fans about the form of the champion squad before the World Cup, Luis de la Fuente shows his intention to bring the starting eleven largely closer to the squad for the Cape Verde match in the Peru match. The fact that his biggest star in the attack Lamine Yamal cannot participate in the Mexico trip due to muscle injury forces the manager to go to alternative plans in the attack line. Similarly, the fact that Nico Williams and Víctor Muñoz are also not in the squad due to injury leaves the burden of producing creativity in this line on the shoulders of Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres.

The situation on the Peru side presents a very different picture from Spain. The Latin American team became one of the eliminated teams by collecting only 12 points in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers; only Chile was behind Peru in the qualifying group. After this failure, the arrival of Mano Menezes in the La Bicolor camp started the team's rebuilding process, while the Brazilian manager caught the first positive result with the victory his team gained with a dramatic comeback against Haiti in the last preparation match, where they were behind until the 81st minute. The protagonist of this victory was young midfielder Jairo Vélez; the player brought three points to his team with his critical goal in the last minutes. Vélez also stands out again as one of Peru's most important sources of creativity in the Spain match.

Estadio Cuauhtémoc, where the match will be played, is a football stadium with a capacity of 51 thousand spectators located in the Mexican state of Puebla. Historically, this stadium, which hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cups in Mexico, came onto the football agenda again with the meeting of two European and Latin American national teams before the 2026 World Cup. Spain evaluates this match not only as tactical preparation but also as an adaptation process in front of Mexican spectators; because part of the 2026 World Cup will be played in Mexico. Peru, on the other hand, is looking for a prestige victory against the European champion in front of Latin American supporters in a location close to its home ground.

Probable Lineups

Spain (4-2-3-1):

• Goalkeeper: Joan García
• Defence: Pedro Porro, Aymeric Laporte, Dean Huijsen, Álex Grimaldo
• Midfield: Marc Bernal, Gavi
• Attacking midfield: Lo Celso Baena, Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres
• Forward: Borja Iglesias

Peru (4-2-3-1):

• Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese
• Defence: Marcos López, Luis Garcés, Oliver Sonne, Renzo Barco
• Midfield: Christofer Noriega, Renato Carrillo
• Attacking midfield: César Concha, Jairo Vélez, Felipe Cabrera
• Forward: Maximiliano Vidales

Image: bbc.com

📍 Match Information

• Venue: Estadio Cuauhtémoc — Puebla, Mexico
• Match times:
  • 🇲🇽 Mexico (local): Monday June 8, 21:00
  • 🇺🇸 US Eastern Time: Monday June 8, 22:00
  • 🇪🇸 Spain (Madrid): Tuesday June 9, 04:00
  • 🇹🇷 Turkey: Tuesday June 9, 05:00