Football walks so fast that with the defeat against Italy in the Eurocopa still fresh arises us a commitment of the so-called decisive road to the World Cup. And with the Final Four of the Nations League just around the corner. What we have on the table is the first of the two duels with Sweden, called to be the rival with whom to play the only place that gives direct access to Qatar 2022. The draw against the Nordic team in the Eurocup (0-0) paints us a danger sign as an emoticon. Also, history says that Spain has never won in Sweden. “It is a vital game,” Luis Enrique said yesterday. It is worth us as a headline. We are warned (follow the game live on As.com).
On Solna we will attend the reunion with that Spanish team that left us with such good feelings at the Eurocup. It is true that it was difficult to start (precisely that 0-0 against Sweden in The Cartuja served as a premiere), but it is also true that the team grew as the championship progressed. Whims of fate, we were eliminated in a good match against Italy, but it is convenient to forget as soon as possible that KO in the penalty shootout with Jorginho certifying the azzurro pass to the final. The Spain of tonight maintains the framework of that of that day, although Four pieces are missing: Pedri, Oyarzabal, Olmo and Pau Torres. They are good, but they deserved the rest after that presentation in (high) society and the subsequent wear in the Olympic Games, of those who also returned with the feeling of what could be and was not. That gold that escaped into the hands of the now athletic Cunha and his partners from canarinha …
But let’s think about what we have, which is not little. Everything indicates that some of the news regarding the Euro block will enjoy minutes tonight in Solna. For instance, Raúl Albiol or Íñigo Martínez. A serious game is coming up and against a physical team that cannot be, so it would be logical to think that the Villarreal center-back has his chance. The only sure thing is that if you do, you won’t have to deal with Ibrahimovic, goes down with a knee injury. Without him on the pitch the most precious chrome of the selection headed by Janne Andersson is Emil Forsberg, that adorned his statistics in the continental event with four goals. The one with Leipzig It is the main way to supply balls to the offensive pair that, a priori, will be formed byr the realist Isak and Kulusevski. And, from what was seen in the match that faced both teams in June in Seville, the balls sound like more than precious when the rival is La Roja. “We must accept that Spain is going to have the ball more than us, it is their way of playing,” warns Andersson, who despite this will squeeze the board so that his pupils enjoy a greater share of the ball than that of that match: 25 %.
On the other side of the field, the purpose is precisely the reverse. Busquets and Koke are in charge of keeping the ball alive at their feet. It remains to see the third vertex of that triangle with Pedri watching the game on television. Soler may be the chosen one, his good form makes him a serious candidate for office. Merino, another of the players with the odometer to burst due to his presence in the Games, also opts for that leading role for a film that, we already noticed in the first paragraph (and there was the phrase of Luis Enrique to endorse it), it is really important. Only the first classified in the group has a guaranteed passport to the World Cup and the playoffs, in view of the competitiveness in modern football, are loaded by the devil. The 1-1 draw in Grenada against Greece in the match that opened the World Cup qualifiers weighs too heavily on our shoulders. It is important to remove that backpack as soon as possible. Solna is a good place to do it.