The Spanish U-21 National Team lost a golden opportunity to practically qualify themselves for the upcoming European U-21 Championships after losing 0 - 3 to Croatia. The loss has taken away the top spot of the Group & complicates the automatic qualification. Spain now has to win Sweden & see what happens with the Croatia game.
Spain seemed to underestimate their opponents today, who were better off-the-ball, defensively & of course, scoring goals. Spain played well for the first 30 mins but then fell apart with the Croatian goals, including a tremendous goalkeeping mistake by Kepa who failed to clear a back pass.
Spain was simply outplayed on all fronts.
Match details
SPAIN - 0: Kepa; Bellerín, Jonny, Duarte (Castro, min.67), Marín; Deulofeu, Saul, Oliver Torres, Ceballos (Pedraza, min.54); Asensio & Munir.
CROATIA - 3: Livakovic; Peric, Caleta-Car, Jedvaj, Milic; Krovinovic, Rog, Pavicic (Capan, min.86), Coric (Fiolic, min.94); Tudor & Perica (Kolar, min.76).
GOALS: 0-1, min.36, Caleta-Car; 0-2, min.42, Perica; 0-3, min.48, Perica.
It was a must winner encounter. Spain had to defeat Serbia today to qualify for the Euro 2015 Championships & the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The final result was a hard blow for the current U-21 European Champions after losing at home 1 - 2.
Same story as the away match at Serbia that finished 0 - 0, solid Serbian defence that waited patiently as Spain made mistakes under their frustration & impatience. However, this time around luck also abandoned the Spaniards with the first Serbian goal in the 31st min which was a "stupid" own goal from Spanish defender Saul. It was uphill from here as Spain bounced off the effective Serbian defence & grew increasingly frustrated.
To honour the Spanish U-21 team they never gave up & in the 91st min Sergi Roberto equalized the game. With the euphoria of the moment, Spain went all out for a second goal to attempt to win the encounter while the "knife was hot". They perhaps sinned of being over-zealous & while Spain was attacking Serbia counter-attacked & exploited the spaces in defence to allow Kostic to score the winner in the 93rd min.
Unfortunate for Spain which will be disappointed after receiving the double blow of Euro 2015 & 2016 Olympic Games elimination. Congratulations to Serbia for their well planned & executed performance, victory & qualification.
Details:
SPAIN - 1:
Kepa ; 2. Manquillo , 4. Sergi Gomez , 5. Muniesa (Oliver min. 70), 3. Gaya ; 6. Saul ; 8. Sergi Roberto , 10. Isco ; 11. Deulofeu (Sarabia min. 64) , 9. Munir & 7. Muniain (Sandro, min. 56).
SERBIA - 2:
Dimititrovic ; 22. Stojkovic (Filipovic min. 65), 16. Cirkovic, 5. Velljkovic, 13. Petrovic; 21. Smic, 2. Kovacevic, 7. Radoja (Mijailovic min. 85), 11. Kostic ; 10. Causic &; 8. Pesic
(Cavric min. 72).
GOALS:
0-1 min. 31 Saúl o.g., min. 91 1-1 Sergi Roberto, 1-2 min. 93 Kostic
The Spanish Football National U-21 Team took an important step forward towards reaching their objective of qualifying for Euro U-21 Championships of 2015 & consequently the Olympics in Rio 2016 (Brazil). Tonight Spain defeated 4 - 0 Albania & notched up three valuable points summing up 6 points from 2 games.
The match wasn't smooth sailing for Spain during the first half hour as Albania planted themselves in defence & Spain could not find their habitual "smooth" Football style. It was not until the 34 th min that Spanish player & Captain Iker Muniain opened the can with his goal which then opened the flood gates. Muniain then got a second in the 51st min with Spain on a roll that lead in the 59th min with a Morata goal. Substitute Jese then got into the fun with his goal in the 72nd min & Spain s fourth for the night.
Special mention to winger Deulofeu who went from average to brilliant on this flank as he became a permanent menace for the Albanians & his passing become precision deadly.
Match summary:
Spain 4: Pacheco; Carvajal, Sergi Gómez, Amat, Alberto; Rubén Pardo, Sergi Roberto, Óliver; Muniain (Jesé, 63'), Morata & Deulofeu
Albania 0: Strakosha; Abazi, Gjokaj, Prenci, Matoshi; Bunjaku, Rarhmani, Hasani, Neziraj (Morina, 63'), Shala; & Hoxha.
Goals: 1-0 (34') Muniain. 2-0 (51') Muniain. 3-0 (59') Morata. 4-0 (72') Jesé.
The Spanish Football National U-21 squad began its road towards the 2014 World Cup & the 2015 European Championship with a convincing 2 - 6 victory over Austria yesterday in its Group match.
The highlight was Real Madrid player Morata who scored 4 goals ( Poker ) & was joined by team-mates Carvajal & Jese who scored in the last minute. Austria managed two goals thanks to Kainz & Spanish defender Carvajal with an own goal.
Below are more details.
Austria 2: Riegler; Farkas, Spendlhofer, Hinteregger, Wimmer; Ziegl (Schöpf, m.72), Offenbacher (Tobias Kainz, m.59), Florian Kainz, Stöger; Holzhauser (Schaub, m.46) & Zulj.
Spain 6: Pacheco; Carvajal, Amat, Muniesa (Pedro Obiang, m.56), Moreno; Saúl Ñíguez, Suso (Óliver Torres, m.81), Sergi Roberto; Sarabia (Jesé, m.65), Muniain & Morata.
Goals: 0-1, m.3: Carvajal. 0-2, m.12: Morata. 0-3, m.17: Morata. 1-3, m.20: Kainz. 1-4, m.49+: Morata. 2-4, m.82: Carvajal (p.p). 2-5, m.86: Morata. 2-6, m.91: Jesé.
