Luis Enrique was sitting in his blue refrigerator and he watched life go by, the minutes and the missed chances. One, another, and another and one more. The script of the clash against Poland was written with the same letter with which the tie against Sweden was drawn up, well argued but lacking in development and finishing touch. The selection also could not with the troop led by Robert Lewandowski. He had the ball and control, but was devoid of venom in the final meters. If against the Nordics they finished off a whopping 17 times, against the Central Europeans they stopped the counter at 12. It only served to score one goal, the one that Álvaro Morata did against Wojciech Szczęsny through Gerard Moreno, with whom he forged an interesting alliance, but from there it was all a fireworks festival. The La Roja’s effectiveness problem is serious, chronic, an incapacitating evil in a tournament as short as the Eurocup. The team needs to go a lot and throw even more to find the prize of the success. And it doesn’t always.
Since September 3, 2000, when the Asturian coach returned to take over the reins of Spain after his tragic family hiatus, the team has played 14 games between the League of Nations, qualification for the World Cup, the European Championship and the friendlies. As well, in four of them it has remained unmarked –Portugal (twice), Ukraine and Sweden– and in six he has only done it once. But there is more: in these 1,260 minutes of play – plus added time – La Roja has completed a total of 222 shots, which means you need to shoot 10.5 times to score a bullseye. Too many attempts in search of a prize that takes time to arrive and that in La Cartuja still makes people wait longer. Why? Because between Sweden and Poland, their first two rivals in Group E, the national team has totaled 29 shots, which gives an average of 14.5 to achieve a single hit in three hours of soccer. If it wants to go ahead in the championship, the team is obliged to improve its effectiveness ratio.
He could be seen clearly against Poland. Spain had a 69% possession, shot 12 times and gave 758 passes for the 236 of its rival, and even so it barely managed to sneak its superiority once between the three sticks defended by Szczęsny. Above, the linesman annulled Morata’s goal for offside, which was later corrected by the VAR. And not only that: Luis Enrique’s men enjoyed five other clear chances and were unable to seal the victory and the pass to the round of 16. Gerard Moreno, the best of the selection with his title as a right inside, enjoyed three unbeatable opportunities to put land in the middle on the scoreboard and could not find a way to beat the Juventus goalkeeper. Not even a penalty, caused by himself, which crashed into the post. Morata had two more, one after catching the rebound of the maximum penalty and sending the ball out to empty goal and another after a good assist from Sarabia that went to limbo.
Leaning into the abyss
“If we play the same against Poland they will enter”Pedri said after the frustrating draw against Sweden. I was wrong. They did not enter, at least not to the extent that they had to to guarantee a full and full match. “Working like this I am sure that the results will come”Jordi Alba commented after the national team crashed against the Central Europeans. Internationals strive to convey positive messages, calm and faith in a happy future, but no one is aware that the team has used up all its wild cards and has looked into the abyss. It is true, a victory on the last day against Slovakia would give the classification and perhaps the first place, depending on what happens in Sweden-Poland, although winning will require impeccable behavior in the meters in which the matches are decided.
Luis Enrique has one bullet left that he cannot waste. In the last nine months, in which it has signed a card of 14 games, the team has only lost against Ukraine (1-0). It is hard to beat La Roja, but La Roja also suffers to prevail because the rest of the balance is summarized in eight draws and five wins (35.7%). And among the latter are the duels against rivals such as Kosovo, Georgia, Germany, Switzerland and Ukraine. There is nothing lost in this European Championship so rare and different, limited and unpredictable, but the national team have turned a clash from a relatively straightforward group stage into a final. Slovakia is already the size of an eight thousand and Hamsik and Skriniar, its men of reference, have grown to their horns. Each minute that passes will be greater because fear exaggerates the danger and deceives the senses. And those of Spain must be placed in the meters of truth, where they have to shoot with a bullet and keep the glitter in the drawer, or in Luis Enrique’s blue fridge.
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