Yes but no. Spain completed this Wednesday a serious and solvent performance to tie (1-1) in the friendly that he played in the Johan Cruyff from Amsterdam, but anyone aware of the enormous potential of this team knows that it can give (and will give) much more of itself. Sergio Canales did the Spanish goal in the first half and Van de beek he was in charge of achieving for the ‘oranje’ the goal with which the score of a marker was equalized that no longer moved.
Luis Enrique he opted for a starting team very far from what would be the 'eleven' type of this Red. A rookie like Unai Simon under sticks, Koke as captain after two years without playing with Spain and the return of Alvaro Morata above to be subjected to a new '9 test'. By way of curiosity, a single representative of Barça or Madrid in the ‘eleven’: Marco Asensio.
Yes there was a culé from the beginning, but in the ‘oranje’, with Frenkie de Jong as the one in charge of creating game for those of Frank de Boer. And they saw the faces two pretended by the Barça as Eric Garcia Y Memphis Depay, who was close to giving his team the victory on a goal occasion that frustrated Unai Simon with 1-1 on the scoreboard.
Can't say that Spain It was wrong, but neither will it dispel the doubts of those who miss the spark that he had previously regarding the goal. Although to be fair it should be noted that the good work of Netherlands high pressure hindered the fluidity in attack of the Luis Enrique, both initially when the offensive triplet consisted of Gerard Moreno, Morata Y Marco Asensio like in the last half hour when they took care of it Adama, Dani Olmo and Ferran as an unusual reference.
The Spanish goal, however, came early. Specifically, in 19 ', when after a good individual action by a Morata who worked a lot and very well between the lines, the Juventus striker filtered a ball in depth to enable Channels, who crossed his left-handed shot from the front causing the stretch from Bizot sterile. In this way, the Betis as a scorer with Spain, in which it was his sixth internationality.
From there, and during the rest of the first act, the duel was rather tight and although with a certain rhythm, without too much activity in the areas. But on restart, and after running De Boer four changes at one stroke at half-time, including the withdrawal of Frenkie de Jong, came the draw for the Netherlands. In '47, when a center Wijndal from the left and toward the far post he found Van de beek joining from the second line to score. Reguilón, which came in replacement of a beaten Gayà after the first quarter of an hour of play, he had gone to the center dragged by Luuk de Jong, and none of the Spanish midfielders followed the Manchester United in his uncheck towards the interior of the area.
Already with equality again in the bright, they forgave Koke for Spain Y Memphis Depay for Netherlands (‘Helped’ by Unai Simón), debuted the multipurpose Marcos Llorente and a little more. Although it should be noted in the debit of Spain that there was some other mismatch in the withdrawal that could be very expensive.
After this friendly, now it's time to think about the outcome of the group stage of the UEFA Nations League. Spain visits Saturday to Switzerland and receives Tuesday at Germany having in their hands the possibility of qualifying for the ‘Final Four’ scheduled for October 2021.
.
1 – Netherlands: Bizot; Wijndal, Aké (d. 6, Blind), Veltman, Hateboer (d. 46, Dumfries); Frenkie de Jong (d. 46, De Vrij), Van de Beek, Wijnaldum (d. 46 Klaassen); Depay (d. 79, Babel), Luuk de Jong and Berghuis (d. 46, Stengs).
1 – Spain: Unai Simón; Bellerin, Eric, Íñigo Martínez (d. 85, Ramos), Gayà (d. 29, Reguilón); Rodri, Koke, Canales (d. 72, Llorente); Marco Asensio (d. 61: Traoré), Gerard Moreno (d. 61, Ferrán Torres) and Morata (d. 61, Olmo).
Goals: 0-1, m.19: Channels. 1-1, m. 47: Van de Beek.
Referee: Davide Massa (ITA). He showed a yellow card to Reguilón and Dani Olmo, from Spain.
Incidents: Friendly match played behind closed doors at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.