Doha v Al Thumama StadiumHe lived the resurrection of the tiqui-taca, in sensations but above all in numbers. Spain returned to monopolize possession and also did so with verticality and a lot of sense. 78 percent of the ball in his World Cup debut against Costa Rica crown the Red to present, with well-founded facts, a very serious candidacy for the World Cup in Qatar.
Spain tried 1060 passes and completed almost a hundred, 998. With these figures, exceeding 90 percent success denotes great precision, which emulates the one that the champion teams embroidered in the Euros 2008 and 2012 and the 2010 World Cup.
But the style advocated by Luis Enrique in La Roja has evolved on the one established by Luis Aragonés and later maintained by Vicente del Bosque. The constant and almost always precise combination among the Spanish players was always accompanied by the intention of looking for the goal defended by Keylor Navas. 17 total shots, 7 of 7 by the way between the three sticks (Navas did not stop a single one) and eight that left outside, show that the Spanish team never dedicated itself to sterile touch to look for the rival area with a lot of sense. And Spain did not shoot at all for shooting: 13 shots came from inside the area and the other 4 from the front.
The intention and ability to take risks of the team Luis Enrique are collected in a statistic: the desire to break rival lines. Spain got it in no less than 177 of the 219 times he tried. A high percentage on which the offensive flow shown by the Red in its World Cup debut is understood.
The new Spain 2.0 that the Asturian coach is building is cloned over the mythical midfield of Barcelona and the National Team. Busquets, a decade later, Pedri in the catalyst place of Xavi Hernández and Gavi as a project of Iniesta which, in addition, shows significant aggressiveness. It is early to launch the bells on the fly, but things look very good.
