Change of guard the Real deal at Enrique’s Spain

All eyes on new-look Spain in the absence of veterans like Ramos, Pique, Iniesta and David Silva

GUWAHATI: For a team that won two European Championships and a World Cup between 2008 and 2012, Spain’s slide has been sharp in the three major tournaments since. A group stage exit at the 2014 World Cup was followed by elimination in the round of 16 at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup.

It is often said that La Roja have been transitioning over the past few years. But this is undoubtedly the first major tournament where the change of guard will be the most visible. For starters, this Spain squad has no Sergio Ramos, no Gerard Pique, no Andres Iniesta, no David Silva. The only survivor from the 2010 World Cup triumph is Sergio Busquets, the team’s captain for the tournament. Only Jordi Alba and Busquets have more than 50 international caps in this squad. A total of 16 players—two-thirds of the squad—have 14 or less caps. Newly-inducted Spaniard Aymeric Laporte got his debut on Friday in the goalless draw against Portugal in a friendly while back-up goalkeeper Robert Sanchez remains uncapped.

Head coach Luis Enrique, who won the treble with Barcelona in 2015, did not pick even a single Real Madrid player in the 24-member squad. Only three Barcelona players—busquets, Jordi Alba and Pedri— made the cut. The presence of Pep Guardiola, another treble-winning former Barca boss, can also be felt with four Man City players— the most from a single club—

Even in his absence,

Zlatan Ibrahimovic tends to dominate the conversation around Sweden at the majors.

All talk leading up to

Russia 2018 centred around how a faceless team will fare following the superstar’s retirement. Very well, as it turned out, with Sweden reaching the quarter-finals–further than Ibrahimovic had ever taken them in his era. Just when they seemed to climb out from under his shadow, the AC Milan striker announced his international comeback in March. “The return of the God,” he tweeted under a picture of himself in Sweden’s yellow, only to get ruled out of the Euro due to an injury. So, Zweden (as Ibrahimovic once called it) turned back to Sweden, who will take part in Group E.

being selected by Enrique. The rising influence of English clubs is visible in that as many as 10 players from the Premier League have made it to the squad as from Spain’s own La Liga.

These aspects underline a deeply changing identity of the

No country makes as many cars per capita as them but to motor beyond the group stage, Slovakia will hope an old model still has some gas in the tank. And that his calf injury has healed. Marek Hamsik has survived five coaches since Euro 2016, where they played the pre-quarters, and at 33 is more than their man with a mohawk.

The Slovakia captain and midfielder has 26 goals in 126 internationals and has a habit of shining in major competitions. On a bright afternoon at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park, he helped send Italy out of the 2010 World Cup. In Euro

2016, his goal helped

Slovakia beat Russia 2-1.

Spanish national team. For better or for worse, Luis Enrique’s Spain are set to begin a new era when they take on Sweden in the opener on June 14. “I need to make the players believe they can do it,” Enrique said. “I think this side is one of the favourites.”

What Hamsik is to Slovakia, Robert ‘The Body’ Lewandowski is to Poland. Coaches have lost jobs if they couldn’t get the best out of the man who broke Gerd Mueller’s 40-goal Bundelsiga record before it turned 50. Between their first and third games in St Petersburg, Poland will travel 7000km for a round trip to Sevilla where they play Spain and their campaign could hinge on how fresh Lewandowski, his strike partner Arkadiusz Milik, centre-back Kamil Glik, among others, are.

After their opener, Spain will face Robert Lewandowski’s Poland and end the group stage playing Slovakia. Winning the group will bring the possibility of an easier round-of-16 clash on paper but even then Spain could face any of England, Croatia,

Portugal, France or Germany in quarter-finals. The lack of experience in the squad is not necessarily a handicap. Some of the internationally inexperienced names are coming into the tournament on the back of impressive campaigns with their clubs.