Spain are set up for a decade of dominance: World and European champions will take some stopping as Lamine Yamal & Co. prepare to enter their peak years

Unai Simon won the Golden Glove at the 2026 World Cup after keeping seven clean sheets in eight appearances - a truly historic achievement, and yet it would be difficult to argue that the goalkeeper played a particularly important role in Spain's success because he barely had anything to do.

Spain may not have been scintillating at the World Cup, but they were unstoppable. Some opponents may have managed to frustrate Luis de la Fuente's side, but nobody figured out how to hurt them, which begs the question, having now added a world title to the European crown they won in Germany two years ago, how many more trophies might this Spain side win in the coming years?

Spain didn't play particularly well in the group stage. The opening-round draw with Cape Verde was at least partially attributed to Lamine Yamal only being fit enough to play the final 15 minutes, and his restoration to the starting line-up sparked a 4-0 rout of Saudi Arabia on matchday two.

However, even with Yamal able to play 76 minutes of the 1-0 win over Uruguay that sealed top spot in Group H, Spain still didn't look like the side that won Euro 2024 in such impressive fashion, with both Yamal and fellow winger Nico Williams hampered by hamstring problems, and Pedri underperforming.

De la Fuente wasn't concerned, though. "This is a long road and this is a team that does not concede much," he said after a third consecutive clean sheet. "They're unbeatable."

Ralf Rangnick came to the same conclusion after watching his Austria side be methodically dismantled during a 3-0 loss to Spain in the round of 32.

"There’s really not much left for them to improve," the former Manchester United manager said. "They are a perfect clockwork. I cannot remember any unforced error they made... I think Spain, today, really showed us their best performance. I would dare say that we did not only face the European champion, but the next world champion, too." And Rangnick was right.

Spain proved a problem that nobody could solve. Not even Portugal, with Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes playing in the middle of the park, could take the ball away from Rodri & Co in their last-16 showdown in Dallas. Consequently, Spain just kept coming, the pressure eventually told, with Mikel Merino scoring an injury-time winner.

Pretty much everyone was astounded by the sheer scale of Spain's domination in Dallas - but not former France forward Thierry Henry.

"I experienced it as a player playing against Spain, and also as a coach," the striking icon said on Fox Sports. "I also experienced as a player playing with Barcelona and you needed to understand that, the ball moves. Everyone needs to stay in their position. Trust your team-mates. Let the ball fly.

Five-time champions Brazil still look lost under Carlo Ancelotti, there are serious questions over England's true quality and Thomas Tuchel's tactics, Argentina could be about to lose the two Lionels - Messi and Scaloni - that played such integral roles in their spell of sustained success, France have yet to take their first steps under Didier Deschamps' expected successor, Zinedine Zidane, while Jurgen Klopp has a serious job on his hands with Germany.

Crazy as it is to think about it now, but there were serious doubts over whether De la Fuente was really the right man to succeed Luis Enrique at the helm - given he'd not won any major honours at senior level during his coaching career.

What's truly terrifying for all of the pretenders to their throne, though, is that they're not done yet. Spain's squad still isn't satisfied, meaning there's no chance of La Roja resting on their laurels.

"The players asked me what we have left to win," De la Fuente revealed after victory over Argentina. "Together, we’ve figured out that it’s the next match in September [against England in the Nations League] because this team is relentless." Every single side that had the misfortune to come across them in North America would agree

Sunday, therefore, may not have been the end of the path De la Fuente talked about, but just another step towards creating a dynasty with an unprecedented decade of dominance.