Spain does not give for more and falls eliminated from the World Cup on penalties

Soccer is that.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
06 December 2022 Tuesday 11:37
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Spain does not give for more and falls eliminated from the World Cup on penalties

Soccer is that... cruel. After 120 minutes of overwhelming and unsuccessful dominance against a rocky rival like Morocco, Spain said goodbye to the World Cup on Tuesday after falling on penalties, an elimination that raises a huge question mark about the future of Luis Enrique. The Asturian, accustomed to living on the wire, all the qualifiers that he has played as a coach have been decided in extra time or on penalties, he must decide now if he chooses to continue on the national bench or make way for another coach. It was a sad and brutal epilogue for a championship in which Spain has clearly gone from more to less.

The Asturian died sportingly accentuating his game idea but weighed down by the obvious lack of gunpowder. The duel began with a giant and eternal rondo of the Spanish soccer players, as if anticipating the plot of the film. Patience was to become a fundamental virtue. The ball ran from one side of the pitch to the other at Education City, located to the west of Doha, although from the atmosphere in the stands it could have been deduced that it was in Rabat. The red dominated and the Moroccan players, delivered in body and soul in the face of a historic opportunity, went after him. Regragui did not hide, surrendered to the Spanish game, and ordered to reduce the spaces to unsuspected limits. All their players came together in less than twenty meters and Spain could see them and wanted them to catch a glimpse of Bono.

The Spanish pressure forced the Sevilla goalkeeper to intervene a lot with his feet, proving to be quite cold-blooded. With possession shamelessly decanted to the Spanish side, a scenario that Morocco drew on purpose, and Ziyech annulled, Boufal's speed and ability with the ball at his feet caused the first scares in Unai Simón's area. Tremendous imbalance of the Angers player, knocking on the door to better opportunities. Rodri and Laporte's response was excellent.

Although Morocco was tireless, the Spanish dominance caused some imbalances in their defense –not too many–, such as a break from Asensio who was not able to beat Bono in the best chance of the first half.

On the other side of the field, Mazraoui was testing Unai Simón, who needed two halves to catch the ball. He didn't really like what he was seeing Luis Enrique, more restless than ever in the band, also unhappy with the irritating performance of the referee Rapallini.

Given the absence of spaces between the lines, the Asturian moved Pedri to the right side and brought Marcos Llorente inside, the great novelty in the eleven. The outlook did not change excessively with this adjustment but Luis Enrique must have liked it, who kept it for a few minutes at the start of the second half. Before, Aguerd gave the last scare with a deflected header.

Far from changing, the script in the second part was accentuated even more. He kneaded the Spain ball, more patient than ever, but he lacked too much fang. They were moments in which the advanced statistics of FIFA reported that Morocco barely reached 23% possession of the ball. He didn't want it anymore either, he defended and defended, as if it were the best thing in the world. Luis Enrique tried to shake up his team by bringing on Nico Williams, who in his first play already led Mazraoui with a header, substituted just minutes later.

The tension invaded the stadium in the final stretch of the second half. Nobody wanted to make a mistake but the fatigue took its toll and each approach meant a heart rise. Abde appeared, a real demon, but he barely touched the ball. Olmo, on the other hand, channeled the Spanish offensive. Extra time was drawn as an inexorable fate, no matter how much Olmo forced Bono to stretch on a free-kick. There was nothing to do. The game was going to last another half hour.

Regragui had oxygenated his team with changes but that had made him lose quality on the pitch. Despite living in lockdown, with possession levels already below 20%, Morocco was about to blow up the game but Unai Simón's right leg emerged as a savior against Cheddari. The Moroccan ecstasy would come later, in the penalty shootout, where Bono excelled against the Spanish pitchers. Sarabia, called up only to shoot, who had already hit the post on the last play of the duel, repeated in the shootout, and Soler and Busquets did it with the Sevilla goalkeeper. Achraf, on the other hand, indicated the Panenka way to the quarterfinals to Morocco for the first time in its history. Spain, dejected, was packing in the cruelest way. He did not give for more.

0 - Spain: Unai Simón; Marcos Llorente, Laporte, Rodri, Jordi Alba (Balde, m.98); Busquets, Pedri, Gavi (Carlos Soler, m.63); Ferran Torres (Nico Williams, m.75 (Sarabia, m.118)), Marco Asensio (Morata, m.63) and Dani Olmo (Ansu Fati, m.98).

0 - Marruecos: Bono; Achraf Hakimi, Aguerd (El Yamiq, m.84), Romain Saiss, Nasser Mazraoui (Attiat-Allai, m.82); Amrabat, Ounahi (Benoun, m.120), Amallah (Cheddira, m.82); Ziyech, Sofiane Boufal (Ez Abde, m.66) and En Nesyri (Sabiri, m.82)

Penalties: 1-0, Saturday. 1-0, Sarabia to the stick. 2-0, Ziyech. 2-0, Soler falls. 2-0, Benoun falls. 2-0, Busquets fails. 3-0, Hakimi.

Referee: Fernando Rapallini (Argentina). He admonished Saiss for Morocco (89); and Laporte (76) for Spain.

Incidents: Round of 16 match of the World Cup in Qatar, played at the Education Ctiy stadium before 40,667 spectators.