Koke, the national team worker: from the tremors in Nigeria to a teacher in Doha

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His history in the national team, better written, in the Federation, is marked by an image that the former sports director,

, usually remembers .

It was in the U17 World Cup in Nigeria, in 2009.

(Madrid, 30 years old), already

then , finished a game lying on a stretcher and shivering due to dehydration.

The suffocating heat and the countless kilometers he had covered were taking their toll on him.

From that day on, Hierro always used the Atlético de Madrid midfielder as an example, on and off the field, to those who came to Las Rozas.

Today, 13 years after that, it is enough to listen to

to confirm that nothing has changed.

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"With Koke I have no doubt, and when he has that small injury and I find out and I see that he can be without a problem...

It's not that I waited for him, it's just that it was a very minor injury, so there's no doubt with him", were his exact words the day he offered the list for this World Cup.

Both situations, that of the youth World Cup and that of this Senior World Cup, define Koke, a tireless worker.

Skilled worker, yes, but a worker.

He assumes his role, whatever it is.

"I feel comfortable being a player for the national team," he sums up.

The second game he played with the senior team was in September 2013 and it was in Finland.

, who had made his debut a month earlier in Ecuador, placed him on the right side and played there for 90 minutes.

"He is a boy who, whatever you ask him, answers you," says the former coach, attentive these days to the World Cup.

Here, in Doha, at the moment he has come off the bench in both games (24 minutes against Costa Rica and 26 against Germany).

This Thursday he is intuited as a headline.

In his thirties, he finds himself in the paradox of being the third captain (he has 70 caps, behind only

and

) and yet feeling young.

"I enjoy and learn a lot from my teammates and the coach.

, "he explains in a summary of his philosophy of life.

I still consider myself young, and I help in whatever is needed, as a starter, from the bench or without playing

Marked in its beginnings, we continue in 2013, as Xavi's successor in the national team,

authorized even by the current Barça coach to play that role, his light went out at the rate that the team withered, although since that year he has always It has been fixed for all selectors.

He fixed, more than in the starting eleven, in the calls.

He faces his fifth major championship.

In Brazil 2014, he played the second 45 minutes in the disaster against Chile and the inconsequential one against Australia.

In Euro 2016, he only played 19 minutes in the second game against Turkey.

In Russia 2018, he started in the debut against Portugal and in the round of 16 against Russia, the game that left him with the bitterness of missing his penalty in the shootout and the tournament that left him feeling that if

I would have continued... It was one of Julen's soldiers.

In last year's Euro Cup, he started every game, until the semifinals against Italy, where he did not participate in the final shootout.

Koke, with Luis Enrique.AFP

However, when Luis Enrique arrived, in September 2018, he did not call him.

Yes, he did it the second time, in October, but from that month (October 2018), until November 2020, he did not have him.

He disappeared from the calls, but his return was in style.

He went to a friendly, the Netherlands, and two League of Nations officials, Switzerland away and Germany at home.

That 6-0 at La Cartuja found the best version of Koke, immovable since then.

Not even that day did he stick out his chest.

Humility is one of his virtues.

Other?

He says it: "Keep learning.

"Perhaps he did it right after the game against Germany last Sunday, when Luis Enrique looked for him directly, still on the pitch: "He told me that we had to have more of the ball, that we had to be even calmer when we we went ahead," he says.

He sits next to

because of the bib, and the Barça boy told, after receiving the MVP of the game against Costa Rica, that it was Koke who gave him the most advice.

"I tell him to enjoy, to be himself," he says, and also talks about

: "Those of us who are older also learn from young people, I like to learn from Pedri," says one of the emotional pillars without any vanity of the group for their ability to unite.

"It is essential for us, for everyone, to feel important, to have that

among all of us and thus generate the good energy that we have", he closes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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