• Classification. This is the group

It was the night of the premiere of the coach towards a bland function, without grace, a neither fu nor fa that would have left the staff cold. Even more. The insignificance of the Spanish team for a large majority of football fans after the latest failures will require this new stage better exercises than last night in Malaga, but yesterday, at least, the night, against Norway, left the sweet taste of the goals at the end, of the goals of the debutant, Joselu, from old-fashioned goals, with crosses from the sidelines and headers, with silly balls in the area that bounce and go inside because there is someone out there. He left the match, in short, the taste of a triumph with new faces. Enough? It doesn't look like it. But something is something.

The eleven, the first eleven, of Luis de la Fuente was quite predictable. Numerically, with respect to Luis Enrique's stage, he introduced four novelties: Kepa, Nacho, Mikel Merino and Aspas. The others had been in the last World Cup. So yes, there were changes, but the list was more revolutionary than the first team decreed. That, in the end, serves only to verify that, beyond who is on the bench, the level of Spain, today, is what it is. It was surprising, if anything, that he did not bet on a player like Ceballos, to whom he has a lot of faith, and that he appointed Aspas instead of Oyarzabal. But, for the rest, and it should not be forgotten, the level of Spain is what it is.

The announced double pivot (Rodri and Merino) was not such, because whenever Spain had the ball, the Real Sociedad player got in, along with Aspas, behind the Norwegian midfielders. He did it inside to receive and from there generate superiorities on the outside, with Gavi and Olmo throwing unmarked from outside to inside for the sides to occupy that space. Morata, the man, with the mission of fixing the central defenders, barely touched the ball. Nor Aspas, blurred all night, unable to justify the debate that was mounted around his figure in Qatar.

Spain, for 80 minutes, was a ni fu ni fa, an insipid thing. Because playing with fewer touches, being more vertical, passing the ball faster, etc ... it's all very well to say, but when teams retreat like Norway it's very difficult to filter passes. And without filtering passes, the horizontality is the same as with Luis Enrique. But it is more. It is the same as with Lopetegui, and with Del Bosque, and even with Luis Aragonés... Because, in reality, there is no formula that is worth to dismantle a team that retreats that is not individual talent, and in that Spain is not enough.

CHANGES

The goal came on a circulation through the balcony of the area of Morata, who gave way to Balde. The Barça full-back's cross almost bounced off Olmo, who had occupied Morata's space. And the whole play had been born in an unlikely recovery of Merino, by far the best. He's a different player, and that's fine.

After overtaking, Spain remained just as inconsequential, but showing signs again of not being the most powerful defensively. Kepa took a ball that was a goal on the half hour, just before Merino, again him, finished off a cross from Carvajal. It wasn't a miracle goal. In the last 10 minutes the Norwegians decided to appear in the match and took the ball. They did not do much, but they anesthetized De la Fuente's team, which arrived at the break without frights.

Yes he had them on the return, when Norway started playing and disarmed Spain in a first quarter of an hour certainly worrying. The reaction of the new coach was to put Oyarzabal and Ceballos in the place of Gavi and Aspas. Ceballos brightened the picture somewhat, but the second half was another session of irrelevance whose only emotion was the shortness of the result. Norway, with nothing to lose, pulled all the resources, not too many, in the field. With all of those, with 10 minutes left Sorloth had the opportunity to equalize after a good collective play.

De la Fuente stirred the tree again, and then he did. The figure of the center forward, that so controversial in Spain, so even despised in recent years for sounding stale, was vindicated. He did it in the figure of Joselu, who in two minutes fixed everything. The first goal was a header from the old to the center of Fabián, who had entered the field with him, and the second goal was a loose ball of those who always claim the opportunistic guy, who is there by instinct. Thus, with a new face, with an old-fashioned striker, Spain fixed its inconsequentiality.

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  • Spain national football team
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