{"id":33778,"date":"2026-06-15T16:57:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T16:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/barcelonas-joan-garcia-will-not-start-for-spain-at-world-cup-2026-at-least-at-first\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T16:57:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T16:57:46","slug":"barcelonas-joan-garcia-will-not-start-for-spain-at-world-cup-2026-at-least-at-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/barcelonas-joan-garcia-will-not-start-for-spain-at-world-cup-2026-at-least-at-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona\u2019s Joan Garcia will not start for Spain at World Cup 2026 &#8211; at least at first"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Luis de la Fuente already made his mind up for Spain\u2019s FIFA World Cup opener against Cape Verde on Monday, June 15, and it is not good news for Joan Garcia. Despite Garcia\u2019s rapid rise, Unai Sim\u00f3n is set to start in goal. The Athletic Club goalkeeper maintains the role he held in the last UEFA Euro and World Cup, but he will have very little room for error.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Some sections of the press are even saying that the decision to call up the FC Barcelona keeper might backfire on De la Fuente. And not because Garcia isn\u2019t good enough to play for <em>La Roja<\/em>, no &#8211; the opposite. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elnacional.cat\/es\/deportes\/luis-fuente-ya-se-arrepiente-convocatoria-joan-garcia-mundial_1654010_102.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">El Nacional<\/a> reports that the manager could regret bringing Garcia to the tournament, simply because the kid is too good to sit quietly on the bench. Sim\u00f3n has been De la Fuente\u2019s guy, but any slip-up will instantly ignite a fierce debate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Moving to Bar\u00e7a has boosted Garcia\u2019s profile, and fans are eager to see his quick reflexes and comfort playing out from the back for the European champions. After getting his first international start against Iraq, Garcia sat out the recent 3-1 win over Peru, where Sim\u00f3n started the first half before giving way to David Raya.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Following that friendly, De la Fuente made it clear that his choice was settled well in advance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cAny of them deserves this recognition. It is not a gift, it\u2019s the opportunity to demonstrate their class internationally. Today I thought it was fair to also give David the option, but I am clear on who the starting goalkeeper will be at the beginning of the World Cup, if there are no setbacks,\u201d De la Fuente stated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Purely on recent form, both Raya and Garcia have arguments to be ahead of Sim\u00f3n. Sim\u00f3n had a quieter season at San Mam\u00e9s, where his team conceded 58 goals in La Liga. De la Fuente is betting on tournament experience anyway. After all, it was Sim\u00f3n who started and won the Euro 2024 final.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luis de la Fuente already made his mind up for Spain\u2019s FIFA World Cup opener against Cape Verde on Monday,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/platform.barcablaugranes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2026\/06\/gettyimages-2279861889.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.732984293194%2C100%2C78.534031413613&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}