Soccer is a sport in which the striker of a team that has been relegated to the Second Division is capable of qualifying Spain for its second grand final in ten years. It will be the shirt, or the teammates, but the truth is that red suits Joselu, debutant with two goals against Norway in March in the last five minutes and decisive this Thursday against Italy on the horn, in the semifinal of the Nations League.
Spain will seek on Sunday against Croatia its first scepter of a tournament that is still in kindergarten, which already eluded it in 2021 and which may be the definitive push for Luis de la Fuente to be able to work in the medium term calmly without the weight of the doubts. All thanks to Joselu but also a complete but not very brilliant exercise of a Spain in clear improvement.
The game had an intense staging, without time even to open the bag of pipes. He jumped Spain onto the pitch with more ambition than ever, perhaps in a wink from the players to his coach, as if transmitting all his confidence to the ship’s captain. Before three minutes, the red managed to get ahead on the scoreboard. Gavi’s insistence on the front misled Bonucci, who parked his seniority and seemed like a very tender center-back losing the ball to Yeremy Pino. The canary, one of De la Fuente’s many bets in his eleven, defined as the greats with Donnarumma as an exceptional spectator.
Mancini’s Italy, which seeks to recover the glory lost due to its absence in the World Cup in Qatar, did not suffer the hard blow and took a step forward. The pipes were still in the bag because the transalpine domain only took a few minutes to be reflected on the scoreboard.
The equalizer was signed by the veteran Immobile from a penalty. A play in which another of the bets of the Spanish coach, the Frenchman Robin Le Normand, was somewhat marked by taking his arm out for a walk before Zaniolo’s shot. Unai Simón, who finally left Kepa on the bench, could not do anything against the precision of the Lazio striker in his shot.
Once again, as if the semifinal were a football scale, the panorama changed again and it was Spain that overcame the draw by regaining control of the game. Special mention deserves Jesús Navas, tireless on the right wing, a constant generator of danger, who has become the oldest footballer (37) to play for Spain. Watching him run it would be impossible to guess his age.
With Spain sitting on the driver’s wheel thanks to a Rodri who seems to be a better footballer every game he plays, a move came that could change everything. Jordi Alba was very soft on Frattesi, who turned a great pass from Jorginho into Italy’s second goal. Luckily for Spain, and for its captain, the VAR detected a millimeter offside and annulled the goal. On the other side, a couple of shots from an inoffensive Morata and another from an inconsequential Rodrigo -he stayed on the bench at half-time- certified a Spanish superiority that did not convince De la Fuente, who warmed up Asensio and Ansu Fati before time.
After the break there was no exchange of blows. There was only one protagonist and it was Spain. He amassed the ball and control of the game but beyond the initial double chance, a save from Donnarumma to Merino and a resounding miss from Morata, he was not able to create much danger. Italy lived crouched down, in the old fashioned way, but danger was hardly sensed. Only Frattesi tested Unai Simón, who responded with quick reflexes.
With extra time putting on his shirt, De la Fuente turned to Joselu and the still Spanish player caught a rebound from a Rodri shot, with Acerbi enabling his position, and kissed the net to point the way to the final. Now yes, the pipes jumped through the air.
1 – Spain: Unai Simon; Jesus Navas, Le Normand, Laporte, Jordi Alba; Rodrigo, Mikel Merino (Fabian, m.74), Gavi (Canales, m.68); Rodrigo Moreno (Marco Asensio, 46), Yeremy (Ansu Fati, 74) and Morata (Joselu, 84).
1 – Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Tolói, Bonucci (Darmian, m.46), Acerbi; Jorginho (Cristante, m.61), Barella, Frattesi (Verratti, m.76); Spinazzola (Dimarco, m.46), Zaniolo and Inmobile (Church, m.60).
Goals: 1-0, m.3: Yeremy Pino. 1-1, m.11: Immobile, penalty. 2-1. m.88: Joselu.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia). He booked Alba (45), Gavi (57) and Morata (83) for Spain, and Inmobile (38) and Zaniolo (93) for Italy.
Incidents: second semifinal of the League of Nations played at the Twente Stadion before 27.00 spectators. Nearly 5,000 fans supported the Spanish team in the stands and some 8,000 for the Italian team. A minute’s silence was observed in memory of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
