Spain eager to move on after coaching change
MOSCOW — Spain can’t wait to get the ball rolling and put its coaching woes in the past.
And nothing better than a win against European champion Portugal in its World Cup opener to start moving forward after one of the most chaotic days in the national team’s history.
Spain will have new coach Fernando Hierro on the bench today after Julen Lopetegui, who led the team on a 20-match unbeaten campaign since taking over the squad in 2016, was fired Wednesday for accepting the Real Madrid coaching job without informing the soccer federation in advance.
“We need to turn the page as soon as possible,” Spain captain Sergio Ramos said Thursday. “Spain has to be above anybody. The World Cup starts tomorrow [for us] and we have a great game to play against the European champion. Hopefully we will start on the right foot.”
Spain arrived as one of the title favorites thanks to its good performances under Lopetegui, but La Roja was rocked when newly elected federation president Luis Rubiales fired him for not properly handling the negotiations with Madrid. Hierro, a former nationalteam player and Real Madrid captain who had been
acting as Spain’s sports director, was hastily picked for the job despite not having any significant coaching experience.
“Very few things will change. There wasn’t a lot of time,” said Hierro, who had previously coached seconddivision club Real Oviedo and was an assistant to Carlo Ancelotti after Zinedine Zidane left the post in 2014. “We are well prepared. We have been practicing intensely these past weeks and we have confidence in these players and the ideal that has been in place for the last two years.”
Lopetegui, who was officially introduced by Real Madrid back in Spain not long after Spain’s news conference in Sochi, had revamped Spain’s national team after taking over from Vicente del Bosque following the 2016 European Championship. Ramos, one of the six Madrid players with the national team, said the squad didn’t want to talk about the coaching change anymore and would remain focused on playing soccer.
“The desire of this group to do well hasn’t changed,” he said.
Ramos, who will captain Spain in a World Cup for the first time, dismissed reports that players tried to persuade the federation president to change his decision on Lopetegui.
“This is a decision that doesn’t belong to us. It’s taken by people who have more power than the players,” he said. “We can only do something on the field.”
Ramos said Lopetegui “would remain a part of whatever happens to Spain in this World Cup.”
Portugal, meanwhile, is the reigning champion of Europe with arguably the best player in the world.
And yet there seems to be little talk about the team and Cristiano Ronaldo heading into today’s much anticipated World Cup match against Spain.
“We’re focused, we’re united and I don’t think we’re concerned with anything else,” Portugal midfielder Joao Moutinho said. “We have to focus on the action of the team and what we can do to attain our goal in this World Cup. We’re not really looking at what is happening with other teams.”
Perhaps a bit more respect should be paid to Portugal based on its last major tournament. The team won the 2016 European Championship thanks to a magical run through the knockout stage led by Ronaldo.
Spain, Germany, Brazil and France are all talked about as potential winners of this tournament. Rarely is Portugal mentioned, yet the players seem to understand their place in the hierarchy of contenders.
“The favorites are the ones you have just listed,” Moutinho said. “Portugal is, I think, among the candidates to be able to take this cup home. It’s normal to have other favorites with all they’ve obtained, all they’ve achieved. Of course you have favorites. We are European champions, but that doesn’t give us the right to be favorites.”
Any team that has the talent of Ronaldo has to be considered a threat.
“He’s an extraordinary captain. He’s an extraordinary player,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said.
Here’s a look at the two other group stage games Friday:
EGYPT VS. URUGUAY
Egypt is making its first World Cup appearance in 28 years and its success will depend on the health of Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool star who injured his shoulder in the Champions League final. If Salah can’t play in the Group A match in Yekaterinburg, Egypt could struggle against the deep Uruguayan squad. Egypt may also start the oldest player in World Cup history if 45-year-old goalkeeper Essam El Hadary gets in the game.
Oscar Tabarez leads twotime champion Uruguay into his fourth World Cup — most among all coaches in this year’s tournament — and third in a row. His teams have always made it out of the group stage, including a semifinal appearance in South Africa in 2010. That was the last time Uruguay moved past the round of 16 in its last six World Cup appearances.
MOROCCO VS. IRAN
This match of Group B underdogs at St. Petersburg Stadium, and Morocco is the only one of the teams that has ever made it out of group stage — but that was in 1986. Morocco is unbeaten in its last 12 matches, but only two of those games were against World Cup teams. Iran has lost twice in its last five friendlies and has never gotten past the first round.
But Iran has a twopronged threat in Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the top scorer in the Dutch league, and Sardar Azmoun, who is fifth on Iran’s all-time list with 23 goals despite being only 23 years old.
This match is expected to decide third place in Group B.