Football journalist and author Guillem Balagué's thoughts on Spain and why they're the hardest team to stop at the World Cup.
Spain is the easiest team in the world to analyse, and the hardest to stop.
Everyone knows the script by now: patient possession, quick combinations through the inside channels, a wait for the crack in the door. Portugal read it correctly and tried and succeeded shutting those channels down, leaving Spain with little beyond some early promise down the flank — a few good combinations between Porro and Lamine — before that too was swallowed up by numbers behind the ball and really good defending by Nuno Mendes first, and then Semedo.
Roberto Martínez's side sat deeper than usual, took no risks, but had barely an idea what to do on the rare occasions they had possession. Even so, they knew their moment would come, and it nearly did: Nuno Mendes crashed a shot off the bar in the first half, and after Spain had scored, two headers — one from João Neves, one from Bernardo Silva — came desperately close to forcing extra time.
Had either gone in, Roberto Martínez and Cristiano Ronaldo would be facing a lot less criticism this morning. The easy line is that Ronaldo shouldn't be playing anymore, and there's a case that he should have been substituted earlier — but Roberto Martínez's logic is simple: when you're chasing a goal, why take off your best finisher? You can agree with that or not.
None of it changes the praise that this Spain deserved, even though most of the game was played as Portugal wanted. De la Fuente’s team knows how to win a game like this without needing to be spectacular. Technical quality is what makes them so hard to press — so many examples but one in particular: Olmo on a half-turn, a defender left behind with the first touch and, using his other foot, a pass to beat two lines.
And character is what makes that quality repeatable for 90 minutes, game after game. De la Fuente has built this squad on people who offer each other respect: the ones who track back without being asked, who cover for a teammate having a bad night, who stay ready on the bench without ever making it about themselves.
That's why Leão and Portugal's other substitutes, all offensive, all with intention to win a game that was leaving Spain frustrated, found no way through. They were facing a group of friends on a mission.
Spain also waited for their moment of inspiration and, while it arrived, they defended collectively, in numbers, and sorted out their individual battles. Spain have been adored for what they do on the ball since 2008, but what is winning them matches now, as it did in that 2008–2012 golden run, is the defending.
Two goals conceded in the 2010 World Cup, none now, only five shots on target conceded all tournament, and Unai Simón has already broken the record for minutes without conceding at a World Cup — all without a single outstanding save.
Rodri, back to his best after two superb performances, is the lighthouse everyone orients around; the Laporte–Cubarsí pairing gives the platform in behind that lets Spain push men forward and still feel secure. And, same as in the Euros, a substitute like Mikel Merino saving the day.
That is the way they have been doing this and this continuity is not accidental. Much of this group came through De la Fuente's under-19 and under-21 sides, then the Tokyo Olympic final.
A shared footballing language, married to genuine quality and genuine character, that's the cocktail that lets Spain win ugly or win pretty, and fear nobody. Pedri and Lamine Yamal still have another gear to find going forward, and yes, this was an underwhelming win by the eye test.
But tournaments aren't won by the eye test. They're won by knowing exactly what a match requires.
