Spain's preparations for the 2026 World Cup kick off on Thursday evening as they host Iraq at the Estadio Municipal de Riazor in A Coruña for a friendly match. Currently, La Roja holds the second position in the FIFA rankings, trailing only France, while Iraq is positioned 57th. As one of the favorites to claim the prestigious trophy this summer, Luis de la Fuente's squad aims to secure their second World Cup title since their victory in 2010. Following their historic win in South Africa, Spain has faced disappointing early exits in the last three World Cups, including a group stage exit in 2014 and last-16 eliminations in both 2018 and 2022. Despite this, La Roja is the reigning European champion after winning Euro 2024 and completed their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign unbeaten (W5 D1), finishing first in their group ahead of Turkey, Georgia, and Bulgaria. Remarkably, Spain has lost just once in their last 28 international matches over the past 27 months (W22 D5), with that sole defeat coming via penalties against Portugal in the 2025 UEFA Nations League final. Before heading to Mexico for their final warm-up against Peru next Tuesday, Spain will look to extend their impressive unbeaten home streak to 17 matches. However, their most recent home game ended in a 0-0 draw against Egypt in March. Iraq, on the other hand, is preparing for its second World Cup appearance, the first since 1986, where they were unable to win any matches in the group stage. The Lions of Mesopotamia had to overcome three different AFC qualification groups and secured their place in North America by defeating Bolivia 2-1 in an inter-confederation playoff in April.