Scotland may fancy chances while De la Fuente nurtures new vintage for La Roja
GOING into the 2022 World Cup, Spain were described as a team in transition.
Looking at the make-up of the squad chosen to commence the Euro 2024 qualifiers just four months later, they are now almost completely unrecognisable.
It was Luis Enrique’s burden to have to deal with the delicate business of removing fading powers like Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique from the fray ahead of the big tournament in Qatar.
Along with Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets, the last remaining link to the world-conquering side of 2010, those two have now retired from international football, with Pique stepping away from the game altogether after a distinguished career in Catalonia.
Yet the squad’s misadventure in the Middle East, one which saw Spain eliminated by Morocco at the last-16 stage, demanded an even deeper cut.
The first victim was Enrique himself, sacked almost the minute the team disembarked from their flight back from the Middle East.
The former Barca boss’s four-and-a-half-year reign was not without controversy. When he stepped back for four months in 2019 to care for his sick daughter, he returned with a broadside for interim boss Robert Moreno, claiming he had tried to hold on to the position permanently.
Later, when permitted to select an enlarged squad of 26 for the Euro 2020 finals, Enrique decided to go with just 24, further incensing those who sensed malice in his decision not to select a single Real Madrid player.
Enrique did guide Spain to the semi-finals in that delayed competition, losing to Italy on penalties. However, last December’s defeat to Morocco was Spain’s fifth consecutive knockout match at a major tournament to have gone to extra-time.
The sense was of a team treading water and so the Spanish FA reached for Luis de la Fuente (below). Previously manager of Spain’s Under-21 side, the 63-year-old has vowed to usher in an exciting new era for the team and has overhauled the squad, making what looks to be an experimental selection for the opening Euro 2024 double-header against Norway and Scotland.
Of the 24 players selected to travel to Qatar last November, only 10 are on their way to Glasgow this midweek, although Barcelona’s midfield prodigy Pedri would have swelled that number were it not for injury.
Jordi Alba, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marco Asensio and Ferran Torres are among the notable absentees, yet some formidable experience remains.
Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal and Aymeric Laporte of Manchester City offer strength and continuity in defence, Laporte’s club-mate Rodri is one of the world’s top midfield operators and Alvaro Morata is a seasoned attacker.
Yet it’s in the younger generation that De la Fuente will seek inspiration. The loss of
Pedri is a blow but his midfield club-mate Gavi is already racking up the caps aged just 18, while out wide Nico Williams of Athletic Bilbao is an exciting talent.
Criticism has abounded over a lack of cutting edge to the team’s possession-based philosophy but Enrique was ultimately a victim of the previous generation’s success.
After years of underachievement, Spain peaked with their run of success when they lifted back-to-back European titles in 2008 and 2012, while claiming the World Cup in between.
A return to the world-dominating glory days of Xavi and Andres Iniesta seems a long way off but Spain are still favourites to top a strong qualifying section in which Norwegian Erling Haaland and Georgia’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will have a say.
By common consent, such a draw negated Scotland’s hardearned status as second seeds.
Yet there may be no better time to host the section’s big beasts. Strong, settled and backed by a packed Hampden, Scotland are capable of knocking La Roja out of the stride De la Fuente hopes will walk Spain into a new golden age.