Spain started the European Championship in the Netherlands on the right foot. In a strange environment, without an audience (the country’s restrictions mean that until January 25, for the time being, the tournament is behind closed doors), Fede Vidal’s men defeated Bosnia (5-1) with a victory that bore the stamp of the old guard. In the call for the continental appointment, only four players know what it is to win a European Championship. They did it for the last time in 2016 and they are Carlos Ortiz, Lozano and Raúl Campos. The first of them, the captain, scored a double, while the other two contributed a goal. The fourth who knows what it is to lift the title is Jesús Herrero, the goalkeeper, who did not play. Vidal, unlike the last World Cup, decided to bet on Dídac as the starting goal.
“The goal of the Spanish team is always to win the tournament,” said Fede Vidal, the coach, and that has been done from day one. High pressure on the rival’s court and set pieces, two of Spain’s hallmarks that were key in the duel. Raúl Gómez did what sometimes costs, open the can, and with just two minutes elapsed: Mellado’s sublime assist for the Inter Movistar player to push the ball into the far post. The start was unbeatable, with rotations by VIdal and with Spain accumulating occasion after occasion (they finished with 55 shots to 17 for Bosnia). The pressure paid off in the second goal, with a successful Raúl Campos who later defined with class. It was after this goal that Spain’s worst minutes came, with inaccuracies, especially at the back, and with Dídac as the savior.
Ortiz and Lozano, protagonists
What he could not avoid was Boskovic’s goal, historic for Bosnia as it was his debut in a European Championship, after a mistake in marking. Fede Vidal asked his men for an increase in intensity, as at the beginning, and they responded. It was Sergio Lozano who scored the third, before the break, with a powerful shot from a corner. Set pieces, of course. He is the lighthouse of this Selection, and assumes the stripes. The second part, controlled by Spain in its entirety, had a protagonist: Carlos Ortiz. that in his seventh and last European Championship (nobody has played more games in the tournament than him) he scored a brace. One went after a great counterattack and another, to the far post. The win could have been greater, but Dujmovic, the Serbian goalkeeper (the third, since the first two were suspended), had a great afternoon. The first step has been taken, and the arrival of Adolfo is still missing, still on Spanish soil due to contact with a positive. On Wednesday, the second match against Azerbaijan (20:30, TDP), which lost to Georgia (3-2) in the other group match.
