NATIONS LEAGUE | The night the players claimed De la Fuente

06/15/2023 at 23:38

CEST


Haro’s coach made eight changes to the eleven and the team improved with substitutions in the second half

Confucius warned that when the wise man points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger. And we are staring at the team’s bench and scrutinizing every decision made by Luis De la Fuente, when in reality we should be looking at the pitch. Because let’s not fool ourselves, there are no dominant players in this team who condition the matches in any of the areas.

Soccer in Spain has lost arrobas of quality. And it is not a criticism, it is a confirmation. There are no wingers to face, strikers who unstitch the nets or Pirlos or Xavis. Nor are there fantasists in Italy. And in this situation, it only remains to give De la Fuente time to cook his selection over low heat. And he is doing it, as he shows that in his third game he made another eight changes to the eleven. Only Rodri and Merino have repeated in the three games, those in charge of balancing the chaos. The rest is to change to find the key.

The first part, beyond the bad luck of an impeccable Le Normand apart from the penalty, confirmed the defensive fragility with a midfield that was late to cover the passes behind the Spanish defense, very brave playing 30 meters from the area. Above, the line of three midfielders is the perfect portrait of the mediocrity of this Spain. Seeing Gavi with the 9 is another disturbing symptom of the football wandering of this team. The Sevillian cannot play as Pedri no matter how loud he is, and Yeremy and Rodrigo Moreno never once faced their side.

reactive changes

Spain improved its start in the second half, generating several chances that confirmed the team’s pitiful lack of goals. De la Fuente moved the tree naturalizing the attack with players with more shots like Asensio and Fabián, with more punch like Ansu and Joselu and with more football like Canales. But Italy also used classics like Chiesa, Di Marco or Darmian. The changes were good for Spain, but it did not materialize at times.

It smelled like extra time, but the push from De la Fuente’s boys took the game to the edge of the Azzurri area, where Rodri caught a loose ball to shoot and Joselu’s faith led him to score, being set up by Acerbi. Joselu, a goal worker who has already scored two against Norway coming off the bench, rewarded the impetus of this Spain that does not fall in love, but seduces by insistence.

And Joselu, the man that Real Madrid will present next week as the new white striker, certified the passage of this hard-working and choral Spain to the final of the Nations League against Croatia. A meeting in which this Spain in crescendo ended up making a smile, despite the surmountable limitations. De la Fuente has the wickerwork that he has, but there is room for improvement with a group that, above all, demonstrated his commitment to the coach.

Yeremi, author of the first goal, was the first to vindicate the coach: “This victory is very good for the group because we are growing with the new coach after the World Cup. We are beginning to add automatisms. The group that is with the coach and that is what we wanted put it on the field.” Words ratified by De la Fuente himself: “The players have done what we have asked of them, they have shown their commitment and their faith. We have never doubted ourselves, but we knew we needed time.” And the scorer of the goal put the climax of the win, Joselu: “It consisted of having faith, the team had a great game and I’m happy for the coach”.

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