Spain under construction win Nations League title on penalties
Six months on, Spain have learnt how to take penalties. After the embarrassment against Morocco, Luis de la Fuente devoted two training sessions to preparing for 11-metre kicks. And it went well.
Luis Enrique said that you don't train for penalties. And that's how we did in Qatar. Others say that winning in this way is a coin toss, that it's not football. But, for the moment, it is what it is. And others say that the one-on-one luck has to be well worked out. Then it can come off like that Ramos ball into the Bernabéu against Bayern which, months later, turned into a "panenka" against Portugal that put Spain on edge, but closer to a third European Championship.
The Nations League final was a dull game. We cannot expect that after such an intense season, including the World Cup and an average of 50 games per player, this European title match should be a spectacle. We Spaniards had enough to put up with with the TVE narration. Several almost unknown voices that contributed nothing and made jokes among themselves to fill gaps that, on TV, do not need to be filled because that is what the image is for. An ¡Arriba... Spain! crowned the celebration of the public entity while waiting for the usual roller to put theirs up in a few months.
On the other side was Croatia. A team that seems not to have changed since 1994, when Suker played. Always fighting to be among the best and which has already reached a World Cup final. Although Modric's team deserves a title, taking the game to its ultimate consequences doesn't always work out well. In Qatar it went against them and against Spain it went against them.
In a year's time, the European Championship in Germany will be played and Luis de la Fuente should be the coach. Nothing can be assured in an RFEF that lives on the edge. Rubiales suffers from the mafia-like practices that feed the football he is part of and the 23J elections in Spain may defuse everything that happens in Las Rozas, which smells pretty bad, by the way.
Sticking to the sporting side, De la Fuente has given more common sense and more judgement to the Spain roster. Players of all ages have earned their place. Navas became the only player in the world to collect all the major titles with Spain with Euro, World Cup and, now, the Nations League. Rodri closes an excellent season that establishes him as the great Spanish midfielder, much better in that position than as a central midfielder. It is precisely this position that will be Spain's big problem in the coming years because there is no clear-cut partner. Nacho emerged as the great captain he is going to be at Real Madrid and Carvajal took the decisive penalty because he is used to these kinds of tense moments.
In goal, Unai Simón ousted Kepa, who seemed to be De la Fuente's favourite. The Athletic goalkeeper was much discussed after the World Cup, while the Chelsea keeper earned a starting place in his chaotic team. The two penalties put Simon above Casillas himself as the goalkeeper who has saved the most penalties and on whom the new Spain will be built.
The Spanish national team is still under construction. It seems that a coach without as much media noise around him as Luis Enrique and a group of players with no national team past can work well to play good football and at least play a decent role in Germany next summer.