Spain’s players celebrate after Mikel Oyarzabal scored his team’s first goal during the semi-final against France on Tuesday. (AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Spain arrived in North America carrying the weight of expectation. As the reigning UEFA European champions and blessed with one of the most gifted generations in world football, La Roja were widely tipped to go all the way. Yet the road to Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final has featured its share of challenges.
An opening goalless draw against World Cup debutants Cape Verde briefly cast doubt over their credentials. Spain fired 27 attempts but could not beat goalkeeper Vozinha, raising early questions over whether the favourites would live up to expectations.
Those questions have long disappeared. Since that frustrating afternoon, Luis de la Fuente’s men have responded like champions, combining patience, control and defensive discipline to put together one of the tournament’s most complete campaigns.
They have conceded just one goal in six matches while finding different ways to win against every challenge placed before them.
Their semi-final victory over France showed why Spain now stand one win away from lifting a second World Cup trophy after their triumph in 2010.
France entered the last four as many experts’ favourites after scoring 16 goals and sweeping aside strong oppositions with one of the tournament’s most feared attacks. Instead, they ran into a Spanish side that controlled possession, dictated the tempo and denied Kylian Mbappe and company any meaningful rhythm.
Mikel Oyarzabal converted a first-half penalty before Pedro Porro added the second after the break, while Lamine Yamal even had a goal ruled out in a performance that rarely allowed France a route back into the contest.
“We started almost four years ago with an idea and we’ve been faithful to that idea and it’s brought us here,” De la Fuente said after the victory.
“The message was that we were up against one of the best teams in the world, but that they were up against the best team in the world.”
The coach’s confidence has been matched by the performances of his players. Spain recovered from the Cape Verde setback by thrashing Saudi Arabia 4-0 before edging Uruguay to top their group. The knockout rounds brought increasingly difficult tests, but they answered every one of them.
Austria were swept aside 3-0 before Spain survived a tense battle against Portugal thanks to substitute Mikel Merino’s stoppage-time winner. Merino again came off the bench to score the decisive goal against Belgium in the quarter-finals.
Equally impressive has been the back line. Goalkeeper Unai Simon and his defence built a remarkable sequence of clean sheets before Belgium finally ended their long run without conceding. Even then, Spain quickly regained control and continued to look the tournament’s most balanced side.
For De la Fuente, the achievements go beyond tactics.
“These players deserve everything,” he said.
“Day after day they’ve shown their commitment, their solidarity, their generosity, their talent. They make the difficult look easy.”
The coach believes the unity inside the squad has been the foundation of Spain’s success.
“We’ve recaptured the spirit of 2010,” he said.
“This team never ceases to amaze me. The scope for improvement is endless.”
