CROATIA 3 SPAIN 2 | UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE

SPAIN had to win tonight to access automatically into the final 4 stage of the UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE Top 4 Finals but complicated their chances, & negatively, after being defeated 3 - 2 by CROATIA in Zagreb.

Spain now has to sit & wait for the outcome of the England - Croatia clash to see if they continue on, a victory by England or Croatia with give them respectively the ticket through to the Top 4 Finals

Spain started with the following starting 11 team as the above & below photo highlights.

The Croatians in front of their home crowd were nothing like the team which Spain defeat by 6 goals in the 1ºst game. While Spain attempted to play its traditional touch ball & dominating Football, Croatia was lead by a midfield Master in the name of Modric, was rapid & very vertical. Spain was on the back foot from the kick-off & Croatia did not mind later to wait & defend. Spanish goalkeeper DE GEA made a save on the right post from a Persic shot worth a mention.

Spain slowly crawled back into action towards the last 15 mins of the 1ºst half & created some goal chances but kept smashing into the Croatian wall.

The 2º half was spectacular & hats must be taken off to both sides. Spain lifted in their play & Croatia waited for errors to occur to then counter-attack. Plus Spain in their need to score & find a victory tonight left spaces in their defence that were exploited by Croatia to score their goals.  All the goals occurred in the 2º half :

1 - 0 (54') Andrej Kramaric
1 - 1 (56') Dani Ceballos
2 - 1 (69') Tin Jedvaj
2 - 2 (78'pen.) Sergio Ramos

3 - 2 (93') Tin Jedvaj

...including a penalty to Spain that evened things. But in the last moment Croatia got the winner. 

It was end to end & see-saw as Spain attacked, hit the post (Aspas) & missed some clear goal opportunities. But Croatia with speed & very direct attack which found spaces & depth managing to comeback & score in the crucial moments. 

Lastly both goalkeepers deserve a mention, Kalinic for Croatia for his important interventions & De Gea who deviated an almost certain goal from Rebic in latter part of the 2º half.

Looked at the match globally Croatia deserved their victory & managed to win back some lost pride. Spain will be disappointed as they again fell into their own "control Football trap" (need to be more direct) & again missed some very clear opportunities. Some Spanish names could have given something more; Saul, Rodrigo, Morata (when on)... but you can't have it all every time.

FINAL RESULT : CROATIA 3 - SPAIN 2

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SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM | LIST OF 24 PLAYERS FOR CROATIA & BOSNIA

Spanish National Football Team Selector & Coach Luis Enrique has handed in his list of 24 players for the upcoming UEFA Nations League match against Croatia & the International Friendly game against Bosnia Herzegovina.

Novelties are the call up of Celta midfielder Brais Mendez, Hermoso of Espayol & Formals of Villarreal. Isco. Iñigo Martinez, Diego Llorente & Sergi Roberto return after injury, while Jordi Alba also returns after gaining support from his exceptional return to form. 

Absent are Koke (injured), Thiago (injured) & Alonso.

List of 24 players:

Goalkeepers: David De Gea (Man United), Kepa (Chelsea FC) &  Pau Lopez (Betis).

Defenders: Jordi Alba (FC Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Iñigo Martinez (Athletic Bilbao), Diego Llorente (Real Sociedad), Mario Hermoso (Espanyol), Jonny (Wolverhampton), Gaya (Valencia CF), Azpilicueta (Chelsea FC).

Midfielders: Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid), Isco (Real Madrid), Saul (Atletico de Madrid), Rodrigo H. (Atletico de Madrid), Sergi Roberto (FC Barcelona), Busquets (Barcelona), Suso (AC Milan), Fornals (Villarreal) & Brais Mendez (Celta de Vigo).

Forwards: Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Rodrigo Moreno (Valencia), Iago Aspas (Celta) & Alvaro Morata (Chelsea FC).

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SPAIN 2 - ENGLAND 3 | UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE

SPAIN hosted ENGLAND for their Group clash of the UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE. Important match for both as a Spanish win tonight would have put them directly into the final 4, while England needed to win to keep alive their chances & more importantly avoiding relegation to a lower Group.

The final result was Spain 2 - England 3 with the visitors doing the damage in the 1st half with all 3 goals. Spain put up a better performance in the 2º half scoring & creating chances but the English defended well & kept onto their earnt advantage from the 1ºst half.

Starting 11 teams:

SPAIN: David De Gea; Jonny, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Alonso; Sergi Busquets, Saul, Thiago; Asensio, Rodrigo & Aspas.

ENGLAND:  Pickford; Trippier, Gomez, Maguire, Chilwell; Barkley, Dier, Winks; Sterling, Rashford & Harry Kane.

The 1ºst half was a shocker from Spain which was overpowered by the English counter-attacking system. Poor defending by all back four defending Spaniards, with Ramos & Nacho out of position & all slow. England pressured the Spaniards when they had the ball & forced mistakes which allowed them to take advantage of the spaces left unattended by Spain.

Harry Kane acted as the forward reference to get the ball & lay onto the speeding & attacking Sterling & Rashford to finish off the job. Plan worked perfectly for them as England was 0 - 3 by half time.

0 - 1 (16') Raheem Sterling
0 - 2 (29') Marcus Rashford
0 - 3 (38') Raheem Sterling

Much better 2º half from Spain with control of the game & creating numerous goal opportunities. Spanish Coach Luis Enrique made substitutes (Ceballos for Saul; Alcacer for Aspas & later Morata for Rodrigo) which gave Spain more vertical push forward & speed. 

The extra Spanish "aggressiveness"  & push gave their prizes when Paco Alcacer headed a goal to lift Spain & give them hopes of attempting a comeback.

1 - 3 (58') Paco Alcacer

The Spanish momentum continued & could have received a penalty when English Goalkeeper Pickford lost a ball to Rodrigo & fouled the Spanish forward before giving away a corner. The referee only saw a corner & denied Spain a penalty which could have really changed things.

From here onwards, barring an English occasion or two, Spanish attacked non-stop & bombed the English goal square, but were not able to finish off their opportunities, hitting the post etc. Spain finally managed a second goal late with a Ramos header in the last moment

2 - 3 (97') Sergio Ramos

England had defended well during the difficult last moments & managed to hold out the Spaniards to secure the victory & most importantly 3 points.

Great match, England played a top first 45 mins, while Spain showed "grit" & pride to at least pull back two goals. Spain will complain about the penalty not given but England takes the 3 points & gives Spain some things they need to rethink for future matches. Spain defensively was bad & is not fine tuned yet. 

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SPAIN | LIST FOR WALES & ENGLAND GAMES

Spanish Football Team Selector & Coach Luis Enrique has handed in his list of players for the upcoming International games between Wales & England (UEFA Nations League). 

With Sergi Roberto, Isco, Carvajal, Costa & Íñigo Martínez injured, Luis Enrique has had to make adjustments & call up "new" names like Marc Bartra, Koke, Paco Alcácer & Jonny.

Here is the full list of players:

Goalkeepers: Kepa, De Gea, Pau Lopez.

Defenders: Gaya, Marcos Alonso, Albiol, Nacho, Ramos, Marc Bartra, Azpilicueta, Jonny.

Midfielders: Busquets, Rodri, Koke, Ceballos, Thiago, Saul.

Forwards: Asensio, Morata, Rodrigo, Suso, Aspas & Paco Alcacer.


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SPAIN 6 CROATIA 0 | UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE RESULT

SPAIN has defeated FIFA World Sub-Champions CROATIA 6 - 0 at home in the city of Elche. Surprising result as one would have expected a "better" performance from Croatia before the kick off their UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE Group A clash.

Spanish Selector & Coach Luis Enrique made some changes from the last game against England with the inclusion of defender GAYA, midfielder CEBALLOS & forward ASENSIO in the starting line-up. All three players proved their worth with excellent performances & Asensio getting into the goals.

Croatia started well pressuring the Spanish defenders & forcing errors. It seemed at this early stage that Croatia would give Spain a hard night & be more competitive than they actually turned out to be. The Spanish goal came in the 24th min with a SAUL header & Croatia disappeared from this point onwards in the game.

Spain took full control of the match adding 5 more goals to the scoreline, while Spanish goalkeeper DE GEA was hardly put under pressure most of the match. Spain has been criticised for their lack of goal effectivity & scoring power, but tonight they were 100% spot on. Hard to determine if Spain has improved their goal scoring capacity or that Croatia played so bad that they "allowed" Spain to score so many.  Croatia was a shadow of their World Cup performance tonight.

Here are all the goalscorers tonight:

1 - 0 (24m) Saul Ñiguez
2 - 0 (33m) Marco Asensio
3 - 0 (35m) (O.G.) Lovre Kalinic
4 - 0 (49m) Rodrigo Moreno
5 - 0 (57m) Sergio Ramos
6 - 0 (70m) Isco

As you can see another great night for Atletico de Madrid midfielder Saul who scored again. While Asensio was in the goals scoring in the 33rd min & the 35th min was virtually his as well after his long range shot hit the bar & rebounded of the Croatian goalie into the net. Even Spanish Captain & defender Sergio Ramos got his goal after heading home in the 57th min.

The only negative note is the Spanish defense that still needs work to solve concentration lapses & silly errors. Although the results may indicate elsewise when Croatia did pressure upfront (especially early on) Spain suffered defensively & with a more competitive team tonight things may have been different. 

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ENGLAND 1 SPAIN 2 | UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE RESULT

SPAIN has defeated ENGLAND tonight 1 - 2 at Wembley in their UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE match. Spain has not won England at Wembley since 1981 & tonights victory gives the "new" Spanish Football Team a confidence boost. 

New Spanish National Team Selector & Coach Luis Enrique started with the following 11:

De Gea; Carvajal, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Alonso; Sergi Busquets, Saul, Thiago; Isco, Iago Aspas & Rodrigo Moreno.
The goalkeeper debate ended with De Gea keeping his place, while Aspas & Rodrigo surprised with their start. Correct choices by Luis Enrique as DE GEA was to be very important making 3 match saving actions & Rodrigo scoring the second & eventual winning goal.

Positive & encouraging match by Spain which dominated the 1º st half with possession Football & quick attacking incursions from the flanks. Dani Carvajal was very dangerous while midfielder SAUL was very active & causing all sorts of dangers. Said this England got ahead first in the 10th min through RASHFORD when defender Shaw made a clinical pass that broke the Spanish defense. 

The good news from Spain´s point of view was their quick reaction to the situation managing to equalize in the 12th min through SAUL. From this point onwards Spain took control putting England on the back foot & making them chase the ball. Valencia CF forward RODRIGO scored from an Isco free-kick in the 31st min that would turn out to be the winner.

England did have their moments through Rashford who was their most dangerous man, but Spanish goalkeeper DE GEA made 3 saves (hand, knee & leg) that kept out Rushford & avoided the few England equalizer attempts. 

Spain lost "gas" as the match went on in the 2º half & England pushed forward more looking for the equalizer. It nearly came but the offsides did not help & a disputed disallowed goal in the 96th min due to a foul on De Gea foiled England´s plans.

The moment of the night was the unintentional knock received by English defender Shaw by Dani Carvajal early in the 2º nd half that saw Shaw being attended 7 mins by the medical team & stretched off with neck brace & respiratory assistance. We believe it was precautionary & wish from here Shaw a speedy recovery.

In conclusion, good match & better start from Spain under new Coach Luis Enrique with his new players. There is still lots of work to do for Spain to better their play & secure the teams focus & concentration in the latter part of the matches where tonight they allowed the opponent to lift themselves & lose the grip of the match. England nearly managed to pull off the equalizer, thanks to their determination but also due to Spain's lack of ability to finish off the game with a third goal. 

Next match for Spain will be another UEFA Nations League Group game against Croatia.

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SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM PLAYERS LIST FOR UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE

New Spanish Football Team  National  Selector & Coach LUIS ENRIQUE has handed in his first list of 24 players to make up the Spanish National Team Squad for the upcoming UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE competition with matches against ENGLAND & CROATIA.

As anticipated surprises with a Coach that has new ideas & a different viewpoint on how Spain should play its Football. Below is the full list with has missing up to 12 names from the squad that went to the Russia World Cup 2018 tournament. 

Retired are Pique, Iniesta & David Silvia... while notable players left out are Jordi Alba, Koke, Aspas, Pepe Reina... to mention a few. Below in the list of 24 players the newly called up ( some are new & others return) are in black: 

FULL LIST OF 24 PLAYERS:

Goalkeepers

De Gea (Manchester United)
Kepa (Chelsea FC)
Pau Lopez (Real Betis)

Defenders
Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid)
Azpilicueta (Chelsea FC)
Albiol (Napoles)
Diego Llorente (Real Sociedad)
Nacho (Real Madrid)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Iñigo Martinez (Athletic Club Bilbao)
Marcos Alonso (Chelsea CF)
Gaya (Valencia CF)

Midfielders
Sergi Busquets (FC Barcelona)
Sergi Roberto (FC Barcelona)
Rodrigo (Atletico de Madrid)
Saul (Atletico de Madrid)
Thiago (Bayern)
Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid)

Forwards
Isco (Real Madrid)
Marco Asensio (Real Madrid)
Alvaro Morata (Chelsea CF)
Diego Costa (Atletico de Madrid)
Suso (AC Milan)
Rodrigo M. (Valencia CF)

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