As the time ticked away on the finish of Spain vs. Cape Verde, nerves understandably reached their pure crescendo. The giants of the game tried to power the problem and anxiously pushed for what they felt was rightly theirs whereas the courageous underdogs valiantly defended as if their lives were on the road.
When referee Adham Makhadmeh blew his whistle confirming the shocking 0-0 draw, Mercedes-Benz Stadium burst with elation at Cape Verde’s jubilant success: The minnows pulled it off. David had bloodied Goliath. The complete world appeared to have fun the second – everybody, that’s, aside from La Roja and its followers.
What will certainly be one of many nice moments in this World Cup was the result of a little bit of luck and a lot of heroic defending, certain, however a lot of the blame – or credit score relying on the place you’re standing – lays on the toes of the Spanish contingent.
⚽️ sign up for THE stunning sport by News Central Site sports activities ⚽️
- NCS Sports offers you behind-the-scenes reporting from the World Cup, skilled evaluation and level you in direction of the largest storylines of the day. Click here to sign up for the newsletter (it’s free!).
Spain has greater than sufficient expertise on the squad to beat Cape Verde, and regardless of the absence of two of its greatest gamers, the group ought to have come out on high. But an array of points finally misplaced La Roja the three factors – and extra worryingly, level in direction of some probably bad habits that might value this group a probability of lifting its second World Cup.
To get it out of the best way: The draw itself is certainly not the top of the world. In reality, it’s not notably worrying both as a result. If Spain wins its subsequent two video games, it’s in all probability the group winner.
Also, there’s precedent for an early slip up or two not that means a lot in current large tournaments. Argentina received the final World Cup after losing its opener to lowly Saudi Arabia, Portugal received Euro 2016 after sneaking into the knockouts following three attracts in the group stage and Spain received the 2010 World Cup after losing its opening match to Switzerland.
The drawback, when you’re a fan of La Roja, is just about all the pieces however the result.
The group that received Euro 2024 was dynamic, free-flowing and attack-minded with a very robust midfield and a lot of concentrate on unimaginable huge play: notably from younger stars Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams. The absence from the beginning lineup against Cape Verde of Yamal, who’s slowly being introduced again into the rotation following a hamstring harm that ended his membership season in late April, and Williams – who additionally injured his hamstring late in the marketing campaign – was keenly felt as the 2 younger gamers present the dynamism and width that this group is constructed round.
In their place, Spain boss Luis de la Fuente considerably bafflingly lined up Barcelona duo Ferrán Torres and Gavi as their replacements.
Torres is often a center-forward and only played 158 minutes throughout 4 matches (out of 47) on the precise wing in all competitions this season. Gavi just lately got here again from a meniscus tear that had him out injured for over six months. Additionally, he’s primarily used as a central midfielder for Barça – although he was used on the left wing by Blaugrana boss Hansi Flick for 109 minutes over two matches this marketing campaign – and just isn’t notably recognized for game-breaking acceleration or velocity, particularly post-knee surgical procedure.
Both performed poorly with Gavi failing to offer velocity down the flank to interrupt down Cape Verde’s defensive construction and Torres lacking a number of alternatives to place Spain forward – together with one sitter that might have probably opened the floodgates had it not caromed off the crossbar. Torres’ inaccuracy in entrance of objective has even spawned countless memes on Spanish-speaking social media from pissed off followers and amused neutrals.
The different a part of Spain’s superb 2024 squad that shined brightly in that match victory was an unimaginable midfield, however regardless of carrying over Rodri and Fabián Ruiz from that Euro last win and the addition of a wholesome Pedri, it additionally performed approach under expectations in Atlanta.
Both the Manchester City man – who appeared notably sluggish and not just like the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner and even how he ended this previous membership season – and Ruiz weren’t as much as scratch and didn’t present sufficient incisive, penetrative passing to make a distinction in the vast majority of the match, seeming to go the ball and maintain possession for possession’s sake. Evidence of that’s beginning ahead Mikel Oyarzabal changing into the primary participant on file for the reason that 1966 match to fail to the touch the ball as soon as in the primary half-hour against the Blue Sharks, according to Opta Stats.
The lone brilliant spot from the midfield was the stable presence of Pedri who performed out of place and nonetheless had a first rate all-around efficiency, however even he was criticized by many on social media for falling into a acquainted lure.
The group as a complete felt a step sluggish and appeared to overlook the way it performed in the European Championship win, opting as an alternative for an nearly retro tiki-taka vibe from World Cup failures previous (2014, 2018 and 2022). There wasn’t any kind of incisive passing or motion to attempt to break down the Cape Verde low block – Spain had 734 accomplished passes, which principally appeared sideways or backwards – and as an alternative there was loads of wishful considering that their African opponents would make a mistake.
Unfortunately for them, they didn’t, and it probably received’t work against higher opponents both.
Spanish journalist Miguel Quintana said on his Marca radio show, “The result can lie to you. What never lies is the style of play, and yesterday, Spain stopped looking like the 2024 team and started looking like the Spain of the worst moments of 2022 and 2018. That’s what should worry us and that’s what should worry Luis de la Fuente.”
De la Fuente’s lineup to start Monday’s match appeared nearly too assured in a approach – a sense of “We are Spain and you are Cape Verde” – placing the aforementioned “wingers” in place as an alternative of higher matches like Víctor Muñoz (if totally match), Yéremy Pino or Álex Baena, and because the match progressed and it was clear issues weren’t figuring out in any respect, that impression solely appeared to verify itself.
The La Roja boss didn’t react rapidly sufficient to the scenario, as an alternative choosing extra of the identical after the halftime break – rightly or wrongly counting on his mainstay gamers who largely introduced him so far – and didn’t change anybody till the 71st minute. By that point, it was too late, even with the introduction of Yamal and his clear, speedy affect on the sport.
De la Fuente has acquired a lot of criticism from the media and Spanish followers on-line for Monday’s efficiency, and there’s a lot of nostalgic pining for former assistant supervisor Pablo Amo, who left the teaching workers in February 2025 however who many say was the true mastermind of the Euro 2024 squad. However, Amo isn’t coming again and de la Fuente has to undertake extra urgency and regulate.
In reality, the entire squad has to lock in extra. It took France one half of subpar soccer against Senegal to modify gears and start to play as much as its potential – Spain has to do the identical.
La Roja wants faster motion of the ball and its gamers, extra adaptation to what the opponent is doing (Saudi Arabia just isn’t going to play free and open after seeing what labored) and to be extra ruthless. Spain hasn’t scored a World Cup objective since Álvaro Morata’s in a 2-1 group stage loss to Japan in 2022, this regardless of finishing 2,500 passes and taking 49 photographs, according to the BBC.
Forward Oyarzabal acknowledged post-match that the group must regulate issues for the remainder of the match: “We need to stay calm, have confidence in ourselves and look at what needs correcting because I’m sure there are many things to correct from this match and move forward.”
Gavi told AS Thursday, “Cape Verde is not some joke. We weren’t as good as we wished, the speed we moved the ball was slow and we were too heavy with our passes. … We can do things a lot better than we did.”
Defender Marc Cucurella echoed the sentiment Thursday in an interview with El Mundo: “We tousled a bit, we weren’t all the time doing the precise factor, we were a little bit imprecise and, against these groups – once you don’t begin effectively – all the pieces will get sophisticated.
“We have earned that stage of stress [from the fans] as a result of we’ve been doing issues very effectively these previous few years, however we all know the extent we have now, we all know we weren’t at our greatest.
“The good thing is this scare happened in the first game of the groups – if it happens in the knockouts, you’re out. And we have time to fix it. It’s better that what happened with Cape Verde happened now and, bit by bit, we get better.”
Winning the subsequent two matches and ending Group H because the chief is essential given a second-place end would probably imply an unthinkable spherical of 32 sport against Lionel Messi and Argentina. True, you must beat the perfect to be the perfect, however this squad will need to construct up momentum earlier than taking up the opposite match favorites.
Of course, there are these saying that the result wasn’t too bad and shouldn’t be overanalyzed. De la Fuente didn’t appear too bothered by the result, saying, “We’re a team with an extraordinary reliability. We haven’t lost in 32 matches. We’ll be better in the next game, for sure. … We’re calm. This is a long tournament, and in our heads we’ve still got seven games left.”
World Cup-winning goalkeeper Iker Casillas stated on X: “I thought (Spain) played well. It was one of those matches that happen 1 every 10. … I understand that people have doubts, but this isn’t the case. Relax.”
Perhaps they’re proper. After all, the statistical domination was fairly clear. Spain had 27 photographs with seven on course and an anticipated objectives (xG) determine of over 2.1. And Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha had the sport of his life.
If circumstances had gone Spain’s approach with extra medical ending or a Cape Verde defender making a mistake, then the result would have been completely different and a lot of the chatter at the moment occurring (together with right here) would probably not be occurring.
Additionally, it seemed like Yamal – in his restricted time on the pitch – was close to his greatest. The sport turned when he got here onto the sector in the 71st minute and La Roja lastly started wanting a bit extra threatening general. If the Barça famous person is on the best way to peak health and begins video games, then a lot of this noise could possibly be moot.
Cucurella, for his half, seemed on the result in a optimistic gentle.
“I think the best thing that could have happened to us is to get this scare at the beginning. Because if we had won the game, we would have forgotten about it and we would have said, ‘Well, we won, it’s all good,’” he advised El Mundo.
“But with the scare, we’ve realized that we have to be at our top level in every match, that it won’t be easy at all, that we will have to overcome difficult moments and that the most important thing is to be united and show up in every match.”
Still, regardless of the squad’s positivity, the match triggered a lot of bad reminiscences in the minds of Spain followers in all places forward of what many thought could possibly be a superb opportunity to earn the nation’s second World Cup. Whether La Roja earns one other star or comes crashing again all the way down to earth stays to be seen.