Final judgment. Heads or tails. All or nothing. Illusion or failure. It can be called as each one prefers, but the match that will measure Spain and Slovakia at the La Cartuja Olympic stadium is a full-fledged final. After the first two days of the group, the four teams have options to be in the eighth and, for Luis Enrique’s team , the simplest account is to win. If they add up the three points they will ensure their presence in the next round, it would be necessary to see if as first or second, but the stake would be saved. If they are not able to beat the Slovak team, it would be time to count, pray or pack and start the holidays.
If Spain draws against Slovakia it could be in the round of 16 as long as Poland does not beat Sweden . Of course, he would always do it as third in the group and would, predictably, meet Belgium in a match that would be played at La Cartuja. If they lose, the options are null and it would certify, possibly, the greatest ridicule of the Spanish team in all its history. Three games played at home with a zero win record would be too much.
Doubts in the eleven
For this meeting Luis Enrique prepares changes . Only the Asturian knows if many or few, but there will be rotations. The main one is that Sergio Busquets is already recovered after catching the coronavirus and will enter the starting eleven. Together with the captain in the medullary they could form Koke and Pedri, although it cannot be ruled out that the Asturian makes changes and from the beginning to players like Fabián or Thiago . In goal there will be no rotations and Unai Simón will continue to be the guardian of the Spanish goal , while in defense the main novelty may be the ownership of Eric García in the center of defense.
Finally, Luis Enrique also prepares changes above. Spain has a clear goal problem and must solve it. For this reason, the most notable novelty that the Asturian plans on the offensive front is the appearance in the starting team of Adama Traoré and the replacement of Álvaro Morata . The coach has tried a line-up in which the Juventus striker would start on the bench and the Wolverhampton striker would take his place in the eleven. This means that Gerard Moreno would be the ‘9’ of the team, the winger would start from the right, while Dani Olmo would start from the left.
The Slovak Wall
For its part, Slovakia will not vary much about what it has been able to offer during this European Championship , where it started well with its victory against Poland (1-2) and where it left a more discreet image in its defeat against Sweden (1-0).
The first victory gave him three valuable points when he was considered the theoretically simpler opponent and that allow him to reach this last match with options to qualify , which would be guaranteed with the tie, and even to be first, an option this happens for giving the bell and defeating Spain, and hoping that Sweden does not.
However, although in a different situation since they played with the support of their public, the Slovak team already surprised (2-1) Spain in October 2014 , which was the first Spanish defeat in a qualifying round since October 2014. 2006. And from that victory, Hamsik, the great reference and ‘motor’ of the team, Pekarik, Hubocan, Mak and Kucka, among others, still follow, while Busquets, Jordi Alba, Koke, Azpilicueta and De Gea were on the Spanish side .
