The all or nothing has arrived for the Spanish team. After comfortably overcoming the first phase of the Euro Cup, it is now their turn to make the cut, starting this Sunday against Georgia, in the round of 16 to be played in Cologne.
Germany, for its part, lived up to expectations and defeated Denmark in Dortmund. If they pass, La Roja would have to beat a host in a European Championship or World Cup for the first time in its history. The last precedent was in the 2018 World Cup and Spain fell against Russia on penalties.
Before thinking about the quarterfinals, the team must win against a rival that it knows very well from the recent qualifying round. Spain beat Tbilisi 7-1 and Spain won 3-1 in Valladolid.
La Roja will go out to have the ball, touch and, above all, take advantage of the two daggers they have on the wings: Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
De la Fuente wants to open the field with two threatening players, which forces Georgia having to mark them closely and this creates spaces inside. If Lamine and Nico go head-to-head, they will generate superiority and have passing lines to Morata or the players who come in from the second line like Pedri, Fabián or Rodri.
Dribblers and fast
Between the two extremes they have achieved 23 dribbles in the tournament, with 13 for Lamine and 10 for Nico. That’s right, Williams has more speed, averaging 34.7 km/h to Lamine Yamal’s 31.6 km/hThey are two specific wing players, one who exploits speed more, like the Athletic player, and another who is more skillful with the ball, like the Barça player.
Lamine has already shown his precision in passing and provided a fantastic assist for Carvajal to score against Croatia. The youngest of the Williams brothers, for his part, gave a recital against Italy and took home the well-deserved MVP of the match.
Their statistics are not among the best in the Euro Cup for the simple fact that they did not start in the third game against Albania with Spain already qualified. Nico didn’t even participate and Lamine came in at the end.
De la Fuente wanted them fresh for the round of 16. Their seasons have been very busy. Lamine has had to participate a lot in Xavi Hernández’s team at 16 years old and, although he has gone from strength to strength physically, it was appropriate to give him a break.
Luis de la Fuente in Spain’s last session before the match against Georgia / Pablo García / RFEF
Nico, for his part, is a much more mature player at 21 years old, His muscles have increased in the last year, especially in his legs, but he has assumed the responsibility of being one of the leaders of Athletic, the Copa del Rey champion and it was another good idea for him to rest in front of the Albanians.
System change
Lamine and Nico represent the turning of the page in De la Fuente’s scriptSpain has been playing differently since the March break. Against Colombia and Brazil they switched to a 4-2-3-1, abandoning the classic 4-3-3With Gavi injured, the Riojan looked for another nuance in his scheme.
The bands became fundamental and De la Fuente had the ideal footballers to penetrate like knives, such as the two young friends. Spare parts, such as Ferran Torres or AyozeThey are also powerful and can overflow. A set of extremes to break the most warlike teams in defense, as can be the case of Georgia.
2024-06-30 06:00:42
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