Lesson from a different football on the part of the Spain of Luis de la Fuente. The national team forgot the tiqui taca of other times and opted for an infinitely more modern style to hit hard Croatia in his debut in the Euro 2024. No touching and touching the ball without any sense, just for the mere fact of adding to the possession statistics, and yes with the aim of destroying the rival at the moment when the ball was in his possession. Three to zero in the first period and the same score at the end of regulation time for start with strength and optimism.
The first half in Berlin Olympic stadium was the clearest example of this. After a promising start in terms of controlling the game, Spain went through serious difficulties, as He ran behind Brozovic, Kovacic and Modric almost like a headless chicken. It was very curious to see Pedri, for example, try to prevent the ball from passing through the Croatian midfielder, but destiny had a surprise in store to confirm the message that football admits endless possibilities when it comes to interpreting it.
And Spain did it perfectly. As soon as Fabián received the ball he noticed that he had two passing lines with the possibility of doing a lot of damage to the rear this time harlequinaded. Nico Williams was on one side and Morata started in the center. Instead of rubbing the leather, the palace man inserted a precise, almost surgical pass. Impossible for slow centre-backs, ideal for the captain of the Spanish team. He let it run and that was already half a goal. After Your definition was precise, excellent. One to zero for Spain at the stroke of half an hour.
He was able to equalize in the immediately following play, as Kovacic entered through the middle without anyone harassing him, but his shot was not overly difficult for Unai Simón. It was, however, the preamble of the sentence. Lamine Yamal intervened from the righthe did three or four nice things against Gvardiol and then he gave the ball parallel to Pedri, who extended towards Fabián and the Sevillian’s display was prodigious. Caracoleo, a little heel to get the ball in position to shoot under the gaze of Modric who didn’t know what to do to stop it and then an excellent shot with his left foot.
In just three minutes Spain had gone from not seeing it clearly despite the promising start to the gamewhen he was able to corner Croatia during the first ten minutes, to feel like a winner. A two to zero could allow him to influence that fast and precise football, since he combines the quality of Rodri and Fabián with the always precise support of Pedri higher up and wingers that overflow as soon as they start running. It is true that Croatia had a couple of options through Brozovic and Gvardiol, but the path was beginning to be cleared.
And it would be flatter with the last play of the first period. Lamine Yamal, the youngest to play a game in a European Championship in history, put in an excellent cross with the ball inward and Carvajal, the winger with the spirit of a center forward, read it perfectly. He surprised all the Croatians and simply cushioned the ball with quality. There was no need to hit it, just oriented control and this one went straight to the net.
Strong marker
Spain went into the interval with a resounding 3-0 win against a rival that had also demonstrated its level, but When you face a squad with so many records it is difficult to stand up to them and, above all, if you add lethal effectiveness to all that. Four arrivals, three goalsthat was the business card of the combined by Luis de la Fuente.
The Rioja coach had opted for a scheme much closer to the 1-4-4-2, since Pedri practically accompanied Morata as a forward. The two full-backs were almost at Rodri’s height while Fabián had more freedom to go to different areas. The rest was the predictable, Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams on the wingers; Morata, above; Le Normand and Nacho, as center backs; and, logically, Unai Simón, in goal.
There weren’t many surprises in the starting lineup.Therefore, and as planned, the philosophy is based on the straight path towards the rival goal. Furthermore, there is quality and that allows for the effectiveness of the passes and also the shots, but It is worth highlighting that Spain is going to handle itself with that style of reaching the finishing area as soon as possible..
Wonderful effectiveness
It is not direct football at all, it is something else, it is leverage resources to not allow the adversary time to build up defenses to better protect themselves. For now, in the debut it gave a wonderful result and now we will have to see if it is repeated in the following matches, since such a short tournament does not allow us to live off the debut, it is necessary to prolong the good vibes over time.
To add a but, there was some problem protecting in the middle when Croatia came out with the ball played from behind. So, it did seem like there were too many meters for Rodri and Fabián. The wingers have to help in those situations and the defense also has to step forward. so that the efforts are less for the two center midfielders. It is the question to be resolved by De la Fuente and his coaching staff.
The win could even have increased in a couple of sprinkles of Lamine Yamal, the first with a save by Livakovic when it already seemed like it was the fourth and the next in an excellent play by the beardless winger that Morata did not manage to finish on goal. Croatia was also able to cut a penalty given by Unai Simónbut the Basque goalkeeper himself avoided it by stopping Petkovic’s shot.
Three to zero, in short, and things are looking good for Spain, although in these situations The first to impose caution is De la Fuente himself. There is still a lot to do, but it is always better to start with a win in favor than with a result against, right?
Data sheet
3 – Spain: Unai Simón; Carvajal, Nacho, Le Normand, Cucurella; Rodri (Zubimendi, m.86), Fabián, Pedri (Dani Olmo, m.60); Lamine Yamal (Ferran Torres, m.87), Nico Williams (Mikel Merino, m.68) and Morata (Oyarzabal, m.67)
0 – Croatia: Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Pongracic, Gvardiol; Brozovic, Kovacic (Sucic, m.65), Modric (Pasalic, m.65); Majer, Kramaric (Petkovic, m.72) and Budimir (Perisic, m.56).
Goals: 1-0 (29′) Morata He scores with his left foot alone after an extraordinary pass from Fabián. 2-0 (32′) Fabian He shoots with his left after several cuts after a pass from Pedri. 3-0 (47’+) Carvajal He finishes with his right foot, cushioning the ball from an extraordinary cross by Lamine Yamal.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England). He admonished Rodri (67) for Spain.
Incidents: Match on the first day of Group B played at the Berlin Olympic Stadium in front of 68,844 spectators, around 13,000 Spaniards.
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