Spain is in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar, although not with the script expected before the last match of the group stage against Japan, who won the game (2-1) and made the Spanish suffer for the classification. Finally, ‘la roja’, who was eliminated for 3 minutes, came second in the group and will face Morocco. The Spanish dressing room breathed a sigh of relief after the final whistle.
“There are few teams that go far without going through difficult times. Tomorrow we will get together and work because we are a great group,” explained Álvaro Morata, author of the Spanish initial goal that seemed to put the pass as the first group on track. Then came the many Japanese and the momentary Costa Rican victory against the Germans that lowered Spain. Germany came back but was left out in the group stage for the second World Cup in a row, although their failure was the key for Luis Enrique’s men to access the qualifiers.
“It can’t happen again because you’re going home. On the pitch you can see everything very quickly, in five minutes they’ve scored two goals for us. Now it’s difficult to draw conclusions,” added the striker, who was substituted in the second half, when the score no longer favored the Spanish. “A mistake at the start and they have come up. They have closed the spaces well, they have defended well. To continue improving,” Busquets said for his part.
“We were not comfortable. It was difficult for us to create danger. We have to correct our mistakes and try to get through to the next tie. The round of 16 against Morocco will also be very difficult,” added the captain of the Spanish team. “We have talked about it many times, during a World Cup there are moments where you can be left out and you have to manage those minutes. Sometimes it is difficult. I hope it will help us in the future,” analyzed another veteran like Azpilicueta.
“Now a very tough game against Morocco. It was first against great teams, like Croatia and Belgium. We have to recover our optimism, although I know it’s difficult after a defeat. It wasn’t our best game, but we have to raise our heads head because we still have a road that can be very beautiful”, concluded the Chelsea winger on the roller coaster that the Spaniards lived, who before the game started with more qualifying options than the rest of the group.
The youngsters, like Pedri, also succumbed to the maelstrom that was the match against the Asians, finally first in the group. “Many things were missing. They were an intense team and we had to give the ball a rhythm that we haven’t given it,” said the Barça canary, as well as revealing the confusion at times in the second half.
“I was looking at the scoreboard. Jordi Alba came on and said that we had to score because we were out. We had to get the game out and it hasn’t been like that. Now for Morocco, “concluded Pedri, who agreed in his analysis with Pau Torres:” We did not come out in the second half as we had to. And they have known how to shut themselves in, they have come out more plugged in than us. It’s something that can’t happen again.”
