Spain dies like in Russia

Goodbye to the World Cup. Like four years ago, in Russia 2018, with the same feeling of hitting a wall over and over again. Spain lost to Morocco and leaves Qatar with a single victory (7-0 against Costa Rica) that made us believe we were kings when, seen from what we have seen, we were only beggars. “The result matters zero to me,” said Luis Enrique in the previous one. That phrase now sounds like an epitaph. La Roja played badly and fell resoundingly on penalties against Morocco, which makes history in the World Cups. He had never reached the quarterfinals before. Spain, meanwhile, the Spain of a thousand passes, should retire for a while to the corner of thinking. What is style? We were in those when a World Cup passed over us.

The match was hard and dense, as expected, with Morocco took refuge behind with hardly any free spaces, with the ball eternally in the boots of the Spanish players, and that’s how it was. It was the planned script and it did not seem to alter either Luis Enrique or Walid Regragui. A long-winded game was coming up in which scoring chances would be a precious commodity. La Roja, on this occasion dressed in white and light blue, like Celta (oh, how good it would have suited Iago Aspas…), had a priority task: to accelerate his attack with breaking movements because otherwise he would suffer as has happened against armored teams behind, see Georgia, Sweden or Poland.

Morocco’s 4-1-4-1 was indigestible. Its players did not grant a loophole to a Spain that matched the eleven that thrashed Costa Rica with the only change of Marcos Llorente for Azpilicueta. You could see the minutes go by, now 10, then 20 or 25, but nothing, not a chance to score, neither in one goal nor in the other. So it was clear that the danger would arise in a small detail, any blunder. This came when the half hour was up, when Bono raffled off a ball that led to a double shot by Gavi and Ferran, although both were later canceled out by the linesman’s raised flag.

Morocco also had theirs in a left-footed shot from Mazraoui after Ferran was overconfident when it came to getting the ball played on the edge of the Spanish area. Unai Simón resolved well in what was his first serious intervention. But it was a first warning from Morocco, which was growing little by little thanks to the order that Amrabat gave it and the internships of Ziyech, who danced a grab throughout the game with Jordi Alba. Moroccan solidarity translated into the continuous support of their players, who did not give Gavi, Ferran or Asensio a break; every time a Spanish player dribbled past an opponent and turned, he ran into another. And with another one. Aguerd enjoyed another scoring chance towards the break, a header that went over Unai’s crossbar. And immediately afterwards, Spain suffered another shock after a loan from Ziyech who fortunately did not find a partner. It was a way of reaching the break with the feeling that Morocco was winning on points, stretching as he hadn’t in the previous few minutes. Time to regain strength, for Luis Enrique to analyze how to face that red-green wall that until then had been insurmountable.

However, the beginning of the second half drew a different scenario, with Morocco not taking advantage of the inertia of their last attacks and thrown back even further. A double lock, in short. The statistics gave us two taps on the shoulder and gave us a revealing piece of information: Olmo’s shot at 55′, cleared of fists by Bono, he was the first between the three sticks of the Spanish Selection throughout the match. Luis Enrique understood that the best recipe to end that drought was to bring on Soler and Morata instead of Gavi and Asensio. With the Valencian player, you win, a priori, on arrival, although it is true that Gavi had established himself in that second part as a toothache for Achraf. Regragui reacted with minutes for Abde, the vertiginous Osasuna player, for Boufal.

But the result remained unalterable and the game was gaining minute by minute an indisputable overtime pint. Morocco seemed to take those 30 extra minutes for good and delayed their lines ten meters, with Spain putting one more gear thanks to the entry of Nico Williams. The one from Athletic was noticed, he always faced, generated those passes to the area that until then had only been a utopia. But the long-awaited goal did not arrive that way either. He was seen, the game had the word extension written on his forehead since he started walking. And so it happened. With both teams not moving one iota from their role, with Morocco armored and Spain trying, either to the right, with the aforementioned Nico, or to the left and the center with the extra gasoline provided by Balde and Ansu Fati. But none of the three seriously threatened the rival goal, something that did happen with Cheddira, who had the 1-0 in his boots at minute 104 ‘but found the firmness of Unai, who avoided a heart attack in half of Spain. There were still fifteen minutes of chills and, if no one avoided it, the dreaded penalty shootout. And it was reached, with 1,019 passes from La Roja and the final earthquake of a shot from Sarabia in minute 123. that even touched the right post of the goal defended by Bono. The crudeness of football also wanted Sarabia himself, who had entered the game to face the terrible batch, to be the one who missed the first of the launches. Then Soler and Busquets did it in a torment that ended with the penalty converted by Achraf. It was the end. A very hard ending.