LEAGUE OF NATIONS: This is the group of Spain
Supporters will say how intense football is more even every day, and they will be right.
They will also say that nobody is there to shoot rockets, and they will be right.
Finally, they will say that
Spain is no longer a favorite against anyone
.
And, there yes, they will have a lot of reason.
Spain, in this even football, where no one is to shoot rockets -
Germany
drew against
Switzerland
and wasted the patriotic stumble -, is not a favorite before anyone or at all.
In the same way that he stood up to the Germans at his home in September, yesterday he lost badly against Ukraine, against a
Ukraine
, also full of substitutes, devastated as it was by sanctions, injuries and Coronavirus.
The reality, from now on, is that Spain is a shot in the air.
Navas
crossed and
Rodrigo
finished off quite well, but the goalkeeper stopped.
Asu Fati
had a
heads-up
after a defensive error, but the goalkeeper stopped.
Ramos
threw a foul that the squad was looking for, but the goalkeeper stopped.
Spain tried a handful of times during the first half, but the goalkeeper stopped.
Bushchan
stopped
, which is how
Shevchenko's
fourth or fifth option is called
to save the goal, since all the previous ones (
Andriy Lunin
and
Yuriy Pankiv
among them) fell victims of the Covid, and in fact on the bench, as a substitute, a 45-year-old assistant coach who attends for
Oleksander Shovkovskiy
.
Even if he had played, it would have been the same for Spain to see the goal.
The goal, whether
Luis Enrique
wants it or not
, is going to become a nuclear issue in this team, which otherwise does things with a lot of attitude and aptitude.
And that is bad news: that Spain does what it can.
They hardly arrive, because the coach seems to have found in
Pau Torres
the definitive partner of Ramos, and together with Navas they make up 75% of the defense as something fixed, which is no small thing.
They, along with
Busquets
, although he did not play yesterday, seem like the framework on which to settle the center of the field and the three above, which do rotate.
ADAMA, THE ONLY GOOD NEWS
Yesterday it was the turn of Fati and
Adama
, the two new boys, and
Rodrigo Moreno
, who despite his persistent fight with the network, continues to have the confidence of the coach.
Spain ran into a team, Ukraine, which not even the presence of 15,000 fans - theirs - encouraged them to do anything else, in the first half, than install the two defensive lines, one of five and the other of four, to undermine all the paths to his goalkeeper.
The national team was forced to play in very few meters, with a lot of legs interrupting the passing lanes, and of course, everything becomes much more difficult.
In these situations, a team that aspires to things is asked, first, to create chances and, second, to make one happen.
Spain generates, but does not specify, and of course, everything is much more tiring.
Just Adama was able, time and time again, to put centers in the area.
Spain did find an argument there, but they were useless without a former center forward.
The outlook after the break changed, but for the worse.
Ukraine, until then lethargic in their own field, saw that what they had in front of them was not so bad and, despite playing without four or five of their starters, they decided that, why not, they could win.
As soon as he started,
Zubkov
did not miraculously hook a ball that was a goal, in a play similar to the one that would end with the ball in the net in the absence of a quarter of an hour.
With Spain almost man-to-man on his last line, Zubkov was faster than Navas and found
De Gea
halfway out
.
Before and after that, Ukraine had fallen apart.
It is true that Spain also had its options, but it offered an unsettling sense of fragility.
In fact, in the last 15 minutes, only Adama, as during the entire match, offered something other than yawning.
It's also no surprise at this point.
Actually, this is what there is today.
Nothing else.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
sports
Spain Soccer Team
football
Uefa Nations League
Luis Enrique
UEFA Nations League: Luis Enrique's forced revolution: indoor training in the Spanish team
UEFA Nations League Rodrigo's desert: seven goals in one year
UEFA Nations LeagueThe secret of Jesús Navas' eternal youth
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