Cape Verde delivered the biggest shock\u00a0of the World Cup thus far after\u00a0its draw against Spain in Atlanta on Monday. I’ve given my kudos to Cape Verde (an archipelago nation off the coast of Africa making its tournament debut), but now let’s focus on La Roja and what’s now at stake after this historically disappointing result from Luis de la Fuente’s team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spain came out sputtering. (Photo by Maddie Meyer – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Spain’s draw now means that in order to top the group, its margin for error has practically been brought to zero. This group features two other stout squads \u2013 Uruguay will take on Saudi Arabia to conclude the first matchday of Group H \u2013 but trust me when I tell you that De La Fuente will want nothing less than two victories for their remaining fixtures\u00a0in the group stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Spain knows that topping the group is extremely\u00a0important\u00a0in order\u00a0to avoid a major, giant obstacle in the knockout stages and Monday’s result gets in the way of this objective. Because any other setbacks could set up an earlier-than-expected date with a very familiar face.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Spain doesn’t finish first in its group, it could set up an early clash against Lionel Messi and Argentina. (Photo by Facundo Morales\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n All is not lost, therefore. But Spain knows it has to do better, both in strategy and mentality. It was a passive performance where patience was confused with stagnation. Too many players, from Ferran Torres to Mikel Oyarzabal were not clinical enough. I also thought the substitutions came too late against Cape Verde so De La Fuente too needs to be more aggressive with his management. If all the eggs are placed in Lamine Yamal’s basket, then Spain will continue to fail. It has to believe in the collective.\u00a0<\/p>\n As mentioned, Spain faces Saudi Arabia on Sunday, before ending the group action against Uruguay next Friday. And I am not sure if a desperate battle against a team managed by Marcelo Bielsa \u2013 whose well-earned El Loco nickname comes from his high-pressure style of tactics \u2013 is what Spain wants. There’s a lot to do for Spain and there is no doubt it can do it. It is, after all, a magnificent\u00a0team. But talent is not the question here. This is about application.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Cape Verde delivered the biggest shock\u00a0of the World Cup thus far after\u00a0its draw against Spain in Atlanta on Monday. I’ve given my kudos to Cape Verde (an archipelago nation off the coast of Africa making its tournament debut), but now let’s focus on La Roja and what’s now at stake after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}