• Classification This is how the groups are

It was in the 92nd minute. It was a desperate shot by

Dani Olmo

in which the goalkeeper had a decisive contribution to make it a goal.

It was a liberating cry from a team,

Luis Enrique's

, who saw his life slip away in this qualifying phase.

Until that moment Qatar, the country, was far from Spain, also the country.

But Spain, the national team, was even further away from Qatar, the World Cup.

After the stumble against Greece, and until that minute 92,

the national team offered a dying aspect

That inevitably led him to a play-off (in the best of cases).

Because he was even below the scoreboard, because he tied in an isolated action and because, after half an hour being unable to generate anything knowing what was at stake, only that parable of the Leipzig player saved the team from an incontestable embarrassment.

[Narration and statistics].

At the end of the first half, the sensations could not be worse.

The team, after drawing against Greece in the first game, went to the locker room losing with a goal from the Georgian star,

Kvaratskhelia

, which badly embittered

Pedro Porro's

debut

on the right side.

With the noise of the 15,000 spectators, feverish with the goal, and having been unable to generate a clear chance for three-quarters of an hour, Spain knew it was far, far away, from the World Cup in Qatar.

Luis Enrique, true to himself,

changed seven players

from last Thursday's game.

Three of the four defenders, the entire midfield and one of the top three.

By focusing on the core of the team,

Busquets, Pedri and Fabián replaced Rodri, Koke and Canales

.

The result was more or less the same, with Spain having an inconsequential possession, unable to unbalance the good defensive system of those at home.

Georgia played like Greece, but only by 50%.

He defended like the Greeks, with many people, almost all, behind the ball, but the difference was that, when he managed to recover it, and it was not a few times, he threw counterattacks with a lot of danger, with a lot of bad drool.

Almost always on the left side, where Kvaratskhelia, a 20-year-old boy who plays for

Russian

Rubin Kazan

and whom we will soon see at a big club in Europe, did what he wanted how he wanted and when he wanted.

The kid is lightning, always with the ball stuck to his foot, always vertical, facing another kid, Pedro Porro, who gave the night.

So Spain spent the entire first set crashing into the Georgian wall and suffering in the laps.

If the coach said against Greece that it had been the best game of his life on a defensive level, against Georgia he cannot boast of the same.

MANY CHANGES

Luis Enrique moved the tree at half-time, removing the center-back

Diego Llorente

with a card

and, in a surprising decision, putting Dani Olmo in to remove

Bryan Gil

, who was the only one who, as happened against Greece, was trying the one against one, the main weapon, together with a conduction, to break a team lying on its goalkeeper.

The luck for the national team was that as soon as it started -at 10 minutes- a center by

Jordi Alba

found

Ferrán Torres

at the far post, and with the tie the team began to breathe.

It never finished settling, because every five minutes Luis Enrique introduced a change.

Thiago, Marcos Llorente, Oyarzabal

...

A dance of changes and positions that did not allow those who entered, and some who were in the field, to spend more than ten minutes in the same position.

With Georgia in a grip of fatigue, Spain struck as much as it could, which was not much.

In reality, he was not able to generate any scoring chances, even knowing that the setback left him the Qatar World Cup as a chimera, at the expense of now winning the six games that are ahead.

It was Dani Olmo, a little for not knowing what else to do, who tried a long shot.

The ball caught the forward and uncoordinated goalkeeper in the jump, so that in the end, when everything seemed black, Spain saved the pride and the World Cup options.

Pouting, but saved him.

And surely having to win the six games that remain.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • soccer

  • Spain National Soccer Team

  • Luis Enrique

SoccerThe secrets of Jordi Alba's second youth

Soccer World Cup 2022 Luis Enrique: "Astrophysicists like Guardiola? We didn't reach that level"

Soccer World Cup 2022Luis Enrique: "The one in Greece is the best game of my career on a defensive level"

See links of interest

  • 2021 business calendar

  • FC Cartagena - Malaga

  • Baxi Manresa - Real Madrid

  • UD Logroñés - Real Zaragoza

  • Barça - Urbas Fuenlabrada

  • Live, Georgia - Spain