Spain seeks to leave behind its bad version

Luis Enrique’s Selection takes a penance to the round of 16. Spain began the World Cup in Qatar with high spirits, beating Costa Rica 7-0, but after that, Germany (1-1) and Japan (2-1) reminded them that a victory does not define everything.

“We suffered the panic of being out, I will not deny it, but we have deserved to be in the round of 16. The touch of attention was very good for us, but we are recovered, with joy and we face the round of 16 with maximum enthusiasm”, explained Rodri Hernández , the starting center.

This same panic to advance was also suffered by Spain four years ago and against Morocco, which put them on the brink of failure in Kaliningrad. There are still eight footballers from that Moroccan team in Qatar 2022, four as starters then (Monir El Jaoui, Achraf Hakimi, Romain Saiss and Hakim Ziyech) and four as substitutes (Yassine Bono, Youseff En Nesyri, scorer that day from the bench, Sofyan Amrabat and Ahmed Tagnaouti).

For Spain, from that eliminated team continues Dani Carvajal from Real Madrid, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Koke Resurrección and César Azpilicueta.

Spain has added twelve victories, one draw and two defeats in 15 duels against African teams. Only three teams (out of 11) from Africa made it past the round of 16 in a World Cup.

deportes@eleconomista.mx