Sergi Palencia made a momentous decision in early 2023, leaving Europe behind to play football in the United States. After coming through the youth ranks at FC Barcelona, spending time in France with Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne, in addition to a stint at Leganes in the Spanish second division, the right-back signed for Major League Soccer (MLS) club LAFC.
After more than two years in a city that will host the FIFA World Cup 26™, the Spaniard spoke to FIFA about the impact of the global showpiece, looking forward to seeing the world’s best in action, Mauricio Pochettino’s role in the USA national team’s rise and the excitement of seeing his new team-mate Son Heungmin hit the ground running. He also spoke highly of Lamine Yamal and the Spanish team, who are one of his clear favourites to take home the crown.
Sergi Palencia: I was at Saint-Etienne and didn’t want to move to a new club in January, play five months of the season and then go on holiday. The opportunity to join LAFC came up at the perfect time for me. I could join the team for pre-season training and start from scratch after a five-month lull in my personal career.
Somebody says Los Angeles, and you’re immediately intrigued. Looking at the squad, there was Carlos Vela, Giorgio Chiellini, Gareth Bale had played there too… Between the experience and moving to an exciting city like Los Angeles, I jumped at the chance. I have nothing but good things to say about the club, the city and MLS.
It was a golden opportunity, coming to live in a city and country like this. It is so different. Plus, I’m really into every kind of sport, and you can find them all here. It’s an amazing experience. The city is enormous. After three years here, believe it or not, there are still new places and areas I haven’t explored. It’s such an incredible city to live in. The weather is good all year round, with beaches, mountains, plenty to do, restaurants, cafés and all kinds of other things to enjoy.
There’s a buzz around football here so it’ll be great. We always have an excellent turn-out at our matches. That’s how it’s going to be at the World Cup. There will be plenty of passion involved. The Americans are honoured to be staging the World Cup and being one of the host nations. We’re looking forward to a real show.
That’s going to be insane! Definitely!
They’ve grown like crazy. If you compare the squad from eight years ago, it looks completely different from the current one. Nowadays, they’re a high-profile national team. Almost every player is at a top European club and plays regularly. (Christian) Pulisic is the star player. He’s still young and has played for Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, and is now doing very well at AC Milan.
It’s a young group, but I feel that by the end of this season, they’ll be in great shape. Plus, [Mauricio] Pochettino is a coach with bags of experience. He now knows the team’s philosophy and has been working with them for some time. Everyone here is really excited for it. Hopefully, he’ll do a good job so that more people get involved in the sport and it continues to grow.
He didn’t tell us, but I’m sure that’s one of the reasons he came here. He’s already settled in and ready to take on an exciting challenge in a demanding league. Even for someone at his level. You need to work hard in this league because it’s fast-paced, and physically you have to be in top shape. It could be a great way for him to prepare for the World Cup tournament.
His kind of talent comes along once every 25 years. There’s no other explanation. He’s out of this world. It cannot be explained, even though Barça trains players incredibly well. When I see players like Gavi, (Pau) Cubarsi, (Marc) Casado, (Marc) Bernal and (Alejandro) Balde, I think the academy deserves more credit. I view their achievements as the result of hard work, management, and planning.
But with Lamine Yamal, it seems more like a touch of magic. It’s outrageous what he’s doing. It is beyond explanation. Normal players go out onto the pitch feeling the pressure, but he’s in the (UEFA) Champions League semi-finals as if he were playing on the school playground. It’s a rare skill. He’ll be wearing the No10 shirt this year. I’m really looking forward to seeing how he does this year, but I have zero doubt that he’ll keep breaking records and doing all his crazy tricks.
There’s no doubt about that. Spain will be sticking around. I’d go so far as to say that this season we’ll see some new faces come through too. That’s what happened with Cubarsi and Lamine. No one knew them at the start of the season, nor did they expect them to perform so well. The most important thing is that we need Rodri at his best. I hope he comes back strong because he’s a key member of the team. Spain could make a huge impact.
The players have been in top youth academies since they were young, working hard, watching the game and competing at the highest level from an early age. They get treated like professionals, which really helps, and it looks like they’ve been playing together forever. When you factor in their confidence from the EURO campaign and the fact that they still have games to play to gel as a team, we could be in for some scintillating performances from this side.
When we won our first World Cup in 2010, I was 14 years old… I remember the 2006 World Cup in Germany when Italy won it too. I remember (Fabio) Grosso’s penalty, with (Fabio) Cannavaro lifting the trophy. Then, in 2010, funnily enough, I watched every match, trying to learn all the players’ names… I remember the first goal, scored by (Siphiwe) Tshabalala for South Africa, and the incredible atmosphere inside the stadiums. There’s no other competition like it. It’s the most high-profile event in the world.
