The Murcian striker forced the extension ‘in extremis’ and sank Ivory Coast, beaten in the extra section
In the end, 5-2. Military walk, right? Well, nothing is further from that. Spain is already in the semifinals of the Games and has the medal to throw, yes, but in the 90th minute they lost 1-2 and were eliminated. Whatever happens, the Red has two games left, and by winning only one of them he will be a medalist. All after Rafa Mir came to the rescue from the bench to eliminate Ivory Coast (5-2 in extra time) in a strange and crazy game in which Luis de la Fuente’s men were suddenly out in 90. Disgust lasted less than two minutes; until a Mir whom the coach desperately took to the field scored when he had barely had time to feel the grass. Later he would mark another two; the sentence and the hat trick. But if there was another protagonist, in addition to the Murcian, it was Baily, a star of the Ivorian duality who went from nemesis to involuntary ally. From scoring the first goal to giving the ball away so that Spain would equalize in added time and take the penalty that put the Red’s victory on track.
Spain began as the orchestra of the Titanic, trying to make music while the water seeped everywhere. After ten minutes Unai had to corner a shot from Eboue Kouassi, the recently rejoined Mingueza had to leave the field resentful of his injury, Pau had accidentally stepped on Unai, who was pouring blood and Eric Baily had put in front to the Ivorians. The error in the goal was bulky. In the small area and without even nodding. Baily had scored with his foot between the center-backs. Spain only needed a piano to fall on Pedri’s head.
The canary, by the way, was not as lucid as on other occasions, and this Spain only really shines when Pedri does it. The circulation was slower than usual, and if with that recipe it is already difficult for you to reach the Red, cooked over low heat it could stay dry. De la Fuente proved to have a waistline and Spain changed their plan, with a somewhat more vertical and direct game that without much fanfare soon began to bear fruit.
A hand in the area that did not matter if it was or not, because an offside was signaled prior to Dani Olmo’s shot, and an Ivorian scare to the counter preceded the tie. Mikel Merino, who seems definitively acquitted after his punishment for the match against Egypt, was assisting Dani Olmo vertically for the Catalan to beat Eliezer.
At last the Red was stretching, but the defense still left some worrying detail. The solid Eric García and Pau Torres were not so strong and suffered in some centers from the wings, such as the one that enabled Dao and forced Unai to shine again before the VAR annulled an Oyarzabal goal.
The second act presented a more solid Spain with a great cookbook. What had to bore the rival based on ronditos? Well, go ahead, what did you have to try from afar? Well, Mikel Merino gave Asensio so that the Mallorcan shot from outside the area and smashed the ball against the crosshead. What was there to surprise in individual play? Olmo was inventing a shot.
But superiority did not translate into a goal; ahead on the scoreboard, and the Ivorians were still on the lookout, offering the feeling of being able to get ahead again at any moment in a quick counter. His recipe: neither to circulate nor to drive, but to look for the back and save paperwork in the center of the field based on long passes. As if that were not enough, once the first claws did not make blood, the Red one began to doze off. Maybe that’s why De la Fuente brought Bryan Gil in instead of a good Asensio.
There was still time for a distant shot from Spain, a great save by Eleizer in the heads-up against Oyarzabal and for Miranda to avoid the Ivorian goal before reaching the catharsis of the last minutes. On the 90th minute, still with a 1-1 tie on the scoreboard and when everyone was already thinking about extra time, Max Gradel sneaked the ball against Vallejo, who involuntarily deflected the cross shot just enough so that Unai could not avoid the goal. Mir immediately went to the field to try to fix the mess and he did, with the cane prepared before the hell of the Ivorian defense, to take advantage of the gift of Baily, who will still be thinking about how he headed like that. Not a minute had the Murcian on the grass.
The extension seemed called to be an anticlimax after the festival of the final regulatory minutes, but what he had in store was a quick goal from Spain, who had to readjust his lineup to fit a Mir entry that had been an emergency resource.
About 94 Baily, constant protagonist of the game for good and bad, cleared a ball into the area with his hand and Valenzuela pointed out, at the request of the VAR, the penalty that Oyarzabal converted into 3-2. Spain had gone from being eliminated to having the classification in their pocket. He was able to sentence Spain in a move by Mir that was ruined by Eleizer and that Oyarzabal did not know how to take advantage of the rejection. He did it shortly after, in 116, Rafa Mir himself. The pass and that, although very suffered, is already guaranteed.
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