MADRID, 3 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, has assured that Morocco will be a “very difficult” rival in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar, since it has “a very European mentality” and will play with the favor of the public as a representative “of the entire Arab world”, in addition to ensuring that they will speak with Luis Enrique about his continuity after the World Cup.
“We played a very difficult game away from home, because Morocco is the team of the entire Arab world, but I am convinced that we are going to win,” he told the media in Qatar. “Morocco is a tough, strong team, with a very European mentality,” he added.
In addition, he explained that the players of ‘la Roja’ are “focused” despite ending up “sunk” in the match against Japan. “Yes, we have noticed a strong connection with the fans, which I hope this latest setback will not break; surely it has generated disappointment, but I am sure that the people will recover and in the match against Morocco they will come out on top,” he said.
“It was a hard setback not being able to beat Japan, but football has to be things and the sooner it happens to us, the better. Hopefully we will recover the path of our game and, above all, the results,” he said. “We had a disconnection of 5-10 minutes and that penalized us. We are going to look at ourselves and see that we are better than the teams that have left. It is not consoling, the players were sunk and dejected after the game, but we are now there. We are going to erase, football is a steamroller, it is constant, and now we have chances to recover the path of victory and fight to reach the final”, he pointed out.
Despite the fact that Spain was eliminated for three minutes, the RFEF chief executive assured that he always trusted. “I didn’t see myself out, because one always has faith. There was nervousness, you wonder about the disappointment that millions of people can generate. We were worried, but we finally won and we have to take advantage of this opportunity we have,” he said.
He also downplayed the fact that Luis Enrique admitted that he did not find out about the Costa Rican goal that left them out for a moment. “They wouldn’t tell him, there was a lot of time ahead. I realize it because on the pitch people perceive it. It was a short time. I’m grateful that the players, in the first game, didn’t give up and kept scoring goals; the best way to respect an opponent is to score as many goals as possible, that’s what has led us to be in the second round”, he stressed.
“We have had excellent moments, materializing the occasions, and other moments in which we have not found each other, which have locked us up behind; we have had similar problems to those of the qualifying phase. But the team has arguments,” he said.
In another vein, Rubiales was satisfied with FIFA’s explanations for not canceling one of the Japanese goals against Spain. “I think that the goal that Japan scores us is legal, that it doesn’t come out. It is a play that we see very often and that is very difficult. It is a goal, it is seen from above, it is appreciated that not all the ball has come out. Nothing to object to,” he said.
“WE WILL SPEAK WITH LUIS ENRIQUE AFTER THE WORLD CUP”
On the other hand, he does not believe that the fact of being second in the group will avoid them more problems than if they had gone to the other side of the box. “Avoid Brazil or not? You never know. The match against Japan has to teach us that there is no small enemy, even though we knew that Japan was a great team; in lower categories we always find them in the semifinals of the World Cups, and that reaches the first team. The good path will be if we reached the final on the 18th,” he said.
“All of us who are here join forces to visualize Sergio Busquets lifting that Cup on the 18th. It is very difficult, there are 211 federations in the world and only one team manages to do it. We have chances despite the fact that we have had a setback. We have a group that is capable of beating anyone and will be better in each match”, he continued.
On the continuity of the Asturian coach, Rubiales did not want to anticipate events. “After the World Cup we will talk about it. We are very happy with him and he in the national team, but the analyzes are done when the competition ends. He was the first to tell us that he wanted to talk after the World Cup and both Molina and I agree. When When the time comes, we’ll talk about it,” he said.
In addition, he considers that the coach from Gijón assumes a large part of the group pressure. “The pressure is there and the responsibility exists. He carries them with a smile and with a lot of personality. This is good for the group so that the footballers are abstracted and I think he channels 90% of the pressure directly. It’s positive,” he said. .