KOSOVO 0 – SPAIN 2 (WORLDWIDE 2022) | Fornals and Ferran are golden

Fornals and Ferran are made of gold. The syrup of the Premier cured Spain of the malaise in which it was due to the setbacks against Greece and Sweden on the way to the World Cup in Qatar. His goals allow him to add three points that, together with the KO of the Nordic team in Athens, make us look like a glorious Wednesday. La Roja is the leader and, although we have to wait for the October break to have the same games as Sweden, life looks better if Fornals and Ferran tell us about it.

The bad tongues say that on match days Luis Enrique has breakfast with all the newspapers open to the page in which the unsuspecting special envoys or chroniclers on duty venture the eleven head of the Spanish National Team. They also say that, in a kind of soccer sudoku, the Asturian manages, between the orange juice and the bowl of cereals, to find a starting team that nobody has foreseen. Bingo! He did it again. The Asturian lined up an eleven that left everyone with their mouths open. Six changes from the duel with Georgia to face what he himself had described as “one of the most difficult games in the group.”
If so, the ownership of Pablo Fornals was surprising. And I say this with all the respect in the world for the West Ham midfielder, who in his day made a double dribble in an Athletic-Villarreal that still runs through my head. Look it up on YouTube. Just hear the ohhh! from the stands of San Mamés is a delight. But it was strange that Sarabia was not in the game despite her sweet moment. Reguilón, called up by Gayà's injury and Jordi Alba's discomfort, was the left-back; Llorente was the other side just three days after confirming against Georgia that when it really hurts is as a midfielder on the right wing. Iñigo Martínez formed with Laporte and led Eric Garcia to the substitution, while Busquets and Koke, the heads of internationalities at La Roja, returned to the pit after resting on Sunday in Badajoz.

It was their job not to give away balls, as that fed one of Kosovo's virtues, counterattack. It became clear in just ten minutes, with two raids by Rashica, chosen by Challandes as a partner in Muriqi's attack. One was annulled for offside, the other portrayed Laporte, who had a hard time starting before the transfer of the head by Busquets. Shortly after, another local occasion came, Rashani's left-footed shot that went next to Unai Simón's post. Notice to navigators. Spain did not see the light. The Kosovar lines were very close together and our internationals insisted on walking towards them like someone walking towards a demonstration. The result: no clear chance to pass through the half hour of play.

But then Fornals emerged. He did not need to remind us of his virtuosity in dribbling, but a waist twist was enough to turn what looked like a right control into a violent left shot that not even Arijanet Muric's 197 centimeters managed to block. That goal, by itself, changed the script of the novel. The counterattack could no longer be Challandes' Plan A, which relied on Loshaj and Dresevic to activate. But they didn't and the Swiss left the break with homework to do.

What his talk did achieve was to restore intensity to the team. Muriqi feigned a couple of times, although the Lazio striker was caught offside. But the sensations of Spain were not good, which gave away too many balls. Even Unai starred in one of those actions that cast doubt on his bomb-proof ownership. Luis Enrique was the first to not see it clearly and decided to change the set. Soler and Fornals came out and Azpilicueta and Adama came in, allowing Llorente to play a few meters higher, where his footsteps cause more fear among rivals. He did not give the goal, that second that would reassure the final stretch of the game, but he did so five hundred kilometers from Pristina, in Athens, where Bakasetas overtook Greece against Sweden.

But the head had to be in Pristina, there was no other. And even more so when Rashani and Muriqi touched the goal on 73 '. A minute before Morata had left his post to Sarabia, which made Ferran the number nine for La Roja. In 80 ', Unai stopped at the low shot and with a very bad milk from Bytyqi. Ten minutes later, Ferran calmed our tachycardias by beating Muric from outside the area. The roll of the VAR put some emotion to the matter, but finally the video said that the 0-2 should go up to the scoreboard. Victory closed therefore. Also in Athens, where we played with the Helena jersey. We can now send some boxes of chocolates to Bakasetas and Pavlidis.