World Cup 2022: Coach Enrique disappointed by Spain after Japan defeat

“Totally unsatisfied”

Spain’s national coach Luis Enrique has sobered up despite reaching the round of 16 at the World Cup. “I have nothing to celebrate, I’m not happy at all. If Japan needed two more goals, they would have put them in for us,” said the 52-year-old after the 2-1 (1-0) defeat against the Asians on Thursday evening. “We qualified for the round of 16, that was the goal. But not in this way.”

World Cup 2022
The match day and all groups at a glanceRight this way
The winning goal by the Düsseldorf professional Ao Tanaka (51st minute) was only given after a long-lasting video evidence. According to the Spaniards, the ball had previously crossed the goal line when it was crossed. At the moment, Luis Enrique was downright irritated by the photos of the ball circulating on the internet. “I saw a picture that must have been manipulated. This cannot be the real picture. It must have been rigged,” Enrique said just after midnight in the press conference room at Al-Rajjan’s Chalifa International Stadium.

The Spain coach spoke of “ten minutes of panic” given the two goals conceded right after the break. “Football is an inexplicable sport at times,” he said. In the end, the result was enough for both teams to progress – which meant that neither team took any risks in the final phase. “We gave everything,” said the Spain coach. According to his own statements, he had not noticed that his team had been eliminated for three minutes in the meantime – with Costa Rica leading 2-1 in the parallel game against Germany. “As? We were outside?” Luis Enrique said in response to a related question at the press conference. “I didn’t know, I was focused on the game.” Otherwise he would have “had a heart attack”.

Japan will now play 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia in the first knockout round on Monday, Spain a day later against Morocco.

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