YThere is an appointment to return to the semifinals, so that for the fourth time in five Eurocopas the Spanish team is among the four best. On Friday, at six in the afternoon, the two queens of the competition, Spain and Germanythey will fight a mortal duel in Stuttgart. To reach that crossroads, the Spanish team had to pass a good test of maturity. This is what he demanded Georgia. What comes now are bigger words. The good thing is that he came out of the bad time with power. The bad thing is that a bad time like this against Germany is hemlock.
De la Fuente has homework for Friday
Luis de la Fuente has not repeated a single eleven since he formed his first team as senior coach in March 2023. There are 18 games and 18 lineups without maintaining the team from one to another. But yesterday he repeated, because as it was clear the team that started against Georgia was the same one that gained muscle against Italy. There was no reason to remove anyone from the team. And he didn’t do it. As much as you want to question, Laporte He is the head of his defense and The Norman his main squire. And Pedri has taken advantage of the fact that he arrived physically better than Dani Olmo to resolve the only doubt with real content. From now on, the scenario is different. The reference to Italy is no longer valid. De la Fuente has duties. Because Pedri was stuck, Morata desperate, Rodri with less hierarchy…
Fabián breaks to score… and with a header
Luis de la Fuente asked Fabián for goals, because he knows that he has presence on the field to do that second line damage that coaches value so much. Spain’s number 8 showed up to the Euro camp with only one goal for the national team. And he’s already at four. He scored in the friendly against Northern Ireland and in the Euro he has two: Croatia and Georgia. The Georgians made it 2-1 with a header, a new way of scoring for him. Of course, Lamine Yamal’s little gift had a lot to do with what he found himself in front of. Mamardashvili. And not only that. Against Croatia he launched Morata with an extraordinary pass to make it 1-0 and yesterday he repeated it with Nico de Williams’ goal. What we missed for too long. Only he and Luis Enrique know the reasons.
dry blow
Georgia had not gone beyond the center of the field while Spain accumulated attempts to arrive and some other demands on the reflexes of Mamardashvili. The danger was not even intuited, but suddenly Spain found itself with a goal against. An exit from He wondered discovered gaps and fissures. Kvaratskhelia She was scared when she asked for it at the far post and Le Normand caged her. The worst case scenario was served.
Another example for the VAR in Spain
Point number one: VAR has done more damage to football than anything else. In Spain in a special way. In LaLiga it is very possible that the goal of Rodri would have been annulled on the grounds of an offside Morata which in no way misled Mamardashvili. The Georgian goalkeeper knew nothing about the Spanish captain’s presence there. He didn’t see him, it didn’t bother him. Goal of a lifetime, with VAR and without VAR. Less in the Spanish League, of course. PS: Get out the VAR now!
Nico, Nico, Nico!
He says no, but he is the sensation of the Euro Cup. Nico Williams is a scandal. He is the player from Spain, who his teammates look for again and again because he knows that he is going to make trouble. He was missing the goal and he achieved it with a very violent shot that brought calm to Spain after more than an hour watching ghosts. How much is that boy worth? Better not to imagine it, especially if you are from Bilbao.
A 16 year old diamond
That is what Spain has in Lamine Yamal. What it generates in rivals is a permanent state of alert. They build up defenses because they know he is capable of anything. Think about it: a 16-year-old boy who is capable of determining matches in a European Championship. He’s not even half normal. Against Georgia he made it 2-1 and came close to scoring several times. Lamine Yamal and Nico; Nico and Lamine Yamal. What a present and what a future!
Long live national team football!
It’s another world, nothing to see. It is because of the feelings it provokes. Because it is capable of generating impossible scenarios throughout the year in the best club competitions. Slovakia and Georgia They showed that no one here can think that they are safe in the next round. The much vaunted equality is here where it is demonstrated. It is possible that the Euro will be won by one of the usual players, but those usual players are going to have to sweat blood in any match.
Honor a Georgia
Euro 2024 will remain the tournament in which Georgia played its first final phase. With its shortcomings, with its developing football, with its ranking far from that of the other 23 teams in the competition. But with a piece of goalkeeper, a phenomenon called Kvaratskheliaa great coach and, above all, an indomitable heart that made Portugal and that led Spain to have its heart pounding. It ended up being beaten, but the ovation it deserves does not lose a degree of intensity. Good luck to you!
