EURO CUP.
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GROUP E. The rivals of the Spanish team
Well,
how is Spain?
Well, we don't know. With just four days of concentration, with players arriving later, after a physically terrifying season and against the reigning European champion,
Luis Enrique's team
barely exhibited neat ball control and adequate retreat. It is possible that more could not be asked, neither from this team nor from any of them, already in June, but the feeling left by the match against
Portugal
is that, with nine days to go before the tournament begins, Spain is a mystery. .
Beyond the forced optimism of his coach, we will have to wait. One could tell the team that, being aware of the coldness that awakens in the fans, any opportunity is good to warm up the atmosphere, but perhaps it is that, for the moment, things do not give for more. Nor is Portugal to shoot rockets, so that both signed the peace playing at a slow pace, almost a non-aggression pact barely broken by a shot to the crossbar by
Morata
in discount.
The most striking thing was hearing the noise of the spectators. There were just under 15,000, which is not much in the Wanda, but accustomed to the silence, they sounded like thunder. And that the footballers did not give them too many reasons to scream. The boos to
Cristiano
indicated a mostly rojiblanco audience, but it is pure intuition. The fact is that the game did not turn into almost nothing interesting except a few minutes of scuffle during the second half.
It served on Friday afternoon to entertain himself by analyzing what is not possible to analyze, that is, an alignment of Luis Enrique.
Unai Simón
played
, and they have seven consecutive games, so you could think that he will be the starter on the 14th against Sweden.
But it is pure speculation.
It also served Friday afternoon to see the debut of
Laporte
, who formed, together with
Pau Torres
, the central pair, both left-handed, an experiment rarely seen in professional football.
The centrals try to play close to the band for which they have a natural exit with their good leg, and in this case the sacrifice, going out towards their bad leg, fell to the debutant.
They complied without much more to say.
A SUPER TRIDENT
Without much more to say, among other things, because the possession of Spain, useless to reach
Rui Patricio's
balcony
, was useful to disconnect the European champion.
Cristiano, Joao Félix and Diogo Jota
are a trident that has little to envy that of France, but being away from the ball permanently ended up disconnecting them. After a hard year like this, and with the great tournament 10 days away, the absence of extra efforts to get into the game is normal. Nor did Spain, delivered to control the ball without more, unable to use the speed, run over at times, of
Ferran Torres
, nor that of
Morata
, almost always on his back, almost always harassed. The most that happened was a goal disallowed by Fonte in the 26th minute for a foul by Pau Torres (it seemed like it) and a header from Ferran at the far post that narrowly went wide.
In the second half the game began to be more attractive due to fatigue and changes. At the quarter of an hour Spain had their best option on a blackboard play.
Thiago
, embedded as a right-handed center-back, looked for the deep ball for
Llorente
, off the hook beforehand as an interior. The Atlético player beat
Pepe's
stubbornness
, and his center, to finish off without a goalkeeper, was sent away by
Sarabia
. Then came the one from Portugal, on a ride by Cristiano - the only time he was seen. His center was finished off by Diogo Jota. It was not a miracle goal. New actors came in. In Portugal,
Bruno Fernandes, William Carvalho
... In Spain, Eric García, Rodri (substitute for a weak Busquets),
Pedri, Koke, Gerard Moreno
... In reality, the outlook was the same, as both teams had decided not to attack each other.
At the last quarter of an hour of the match, better to stay as you are, sign an armistice and wait for the Eurocup to arrive, which at least will have the emotion of the competition pure and simple.
Morata did not agree, who stood alone in front of the goalkeeper and sent the ball to the crossbar on the penultimate play of the game.
If anyone deserved to win, it was Spain, but not with much emphasis, really.
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