La Coruña, Spain.
The Spain national team did not go beyond a tie against Iraq (1-1) in the last rehearsal before traveling this Friday to USAin a flat duel with few opportunities, beyond the goals of Ferran Torres and Doski Merchandise in the first half.
The penultimate match before the World Cup -Spain will close its preparation against Peru in Mexico next Tuesday – it only served for the coach, Luis de la Fuentegave minutes to his second unit in the absence of important players such as Marc Cucurella, Rodri, Pedri and Mikel OyarzábalIn addition to the injured Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal and the Champions League finalists Fabián Ruiz (PSG) and Zubimendi (Arsenal).
From the Sourcewho also did not give minutes to Marcos Llorente and Cubarsí, will not draw many conclusions from the duel in Riazor, beyond the doubts that the performance of Joan Garcia.
Iraqwhich will play its second World Cup event after debuting in Mexico 1986, barely left its field in the first half, according to data from SofaScore. He scored with his first shot on goal, a very tight cross from Doski Merchandisein the 27th minute, which the goalkeeper ‘ate’ Barcelonaone of the novelties in the eleven.
The Australian Graham Arnoldwho led his country to the round of 16 in Qatar 2022has built a rocky team defensively. With the lines together, the Asian team knew how to contain the offensive potential of Spainwho abused the short pass and was unable to translate his overwhelming dominance at times.
From this match, the Blaugrana Ferran Torres It came out as the only solid reference. His was the goal that opened the scoring with a great finish with his left foot, after a quick transition. And his was also the last opportunity of the first half. Between the goalkeeper Basil and the crossbar they avoided the 2-1, which they could have also achieved a minute earlier Gavibut the Blaugrana preferred to look for Borja Iglesias instead of finishing the play.
The Spanish coach shook up the eleven with five changes in the intermission. Spain needed to add more rhythm to their game and the second half seemed like another story.
One of the great unknowns facing the World It’s in who will be the starting goalkeeper. The spotlights point to Unai Simon despite the great season of Joan Garcia with the Barcelona. The Blaugrana, however, did not take advantage of his opportunity at Riazor. He missed the goal and fueled his doubts with a bad start, after a corner kick, right after the start of the second half.
The game opened in the second half. The madridista Gonzalo He almost scored the winning goal before the coach moved his bench again. By then, Iraq had already gotten loose and even, at some moments, managed to take the ball away from Spain.
From the Source He continued to distribute minutes among the ‘support’ players who have been concentrated with the national team before traveling to the United States and that was noticeable on the pitch. Spain It did not generate anything and Iraq He kept the tie without suffering.
– Technical sheet:
1 – Spain: Joan García (Leo Román, min.73); Pedro Porro (Javi Rodríguez, min.73), Laporte (Eric García, min.46), Jon Martín (Pubill, min.59), Grimaldo (Yeremy Pino, min.46); Marc Bernal (Turrientes, min.59), Gavi (Javi Guerra, min.59), Olmo (Jesús Rodríguez, min.46); Ferrán (Sergio Gómez, min.46), Álex Baena (Mikel Merino, min.68) and Borja Iglesias (Gonzalo, min.46)
1 – Iraq: Basil (Hassan, min.46); Ali, Tahseen (Younis, min.62), Hashem (Sulaka, min.62), Doski (Yahya, min.61) (Saadon, min.72), Al Ammari (Yakob, min.62), Ismaeel (Iqbal, min.62), Farji (Qasem, min.61), Bayesh (Amyn, min.73), Jassim, Al Hamadi (Hussein, min.46).
Goals: 1-0, m.16: Ferran Torres. 1-1, m.27: Doski.
Referee: Florian Badstubner (German). He cautioned Marc Bernal (min.32) and Gavi (min.37) for Spain, and Ismaeel (min.58) and Jassim (min.81) for Iraq.
Incidents: Friendly match played at the Riazor municipal stadium in front of 30,423 spectators.
