The first surprise of the continuing games of the World Cup has been seen. And what a blast it was! Morocco advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in its history and knocked Spain out of the continuation in a penalty shootout.
As usual, Spain kept the ball, but there were few real goalscoring opportunities. Sports expert Jonne Kunnas points out that, in fact, Morocco created the most dangerous spaces in the match with their counter-attacks, despite taking the majority of the game against Spain’s attacks.
– Great performance from Morocco. It won’t get you anywhere. The defense was really well organized. Spain found it difficult to get into shape, which would have been their weapon. They beat their heads against the wall and could not find solutions to break the block. Morocco’s place in the next round was deserved, says Kunnas.
Morocco’s great hero in the Spain match was Bono a well-known goalkeeper Yassine Bounouwho correctly guessed every Spain penalty and saved two of them.
– Bono completely reset Spain. The actions of the Moroccan shooters were really high-quality, and it is good to build on that in the follow-up matches, if we go to penalty kicks, praises Kunnas.
In the first World Cup quarter-final in Morocco’s history, they will face either Portugal or Switzerland. Could Morocco finally become the first African country to advance to the top four at the World Cup?
– Completely possible. Already in advance, the Moroccan team has players who are the very elite of the world in their respective positions. The whole team is relatively strong, because the players play in good leagues, says Kunnas.
Another huge disappointment for Spain
Spain started the World Cup tournament like a whirlwind, crushing Costa Rica 7–0. After that, the country played three matches and scored two goals in them. In their last three matches, Spain needed an average of 1,356 passes per goal.
Spain was now eliminated in the World Cup for the second time in a row in the quarterfinals on penalties. Also in the previous European Championships, the tie rose up in the penalty shootout, then in the semi-final against Italy.
Many soccer fans even find watching Spanish games boring. The Morocco match was undeniably event-poor, as Spain’s ball movement seemed to lead nowhere.
Jonne Kunnas believes that Spain will not give up its core idea in the future, which relies heavily on ball control. However, according to Kunnas, Spain should be able to diversify their playing.
– They should be able to create a different threat to the last line and vary the rhythm of the advance. When to pass several lines at a time, when to change lanes or pass over them?
Kunnas also raises the question of whether Spain has a sufficiently versatile coverage of different player profiles in its team.
Keeper Unai Simon poor footwork already spoke volumes at last year’s European Championship and again now in Qatar. Spain likes to use their goalkeeper to open the game, so playing the error-prone Simon has raised questions for a reason.
– If and when they want to play like this, there would be better goalkeepers than Simon to open, says Kunnas.
Center forward is another critical position that has been discussed a lot. During Spain’s successful years at the turn of the 2010s David Villa and Fernando Torres answered the shout with their power. In recent years, no clear number one striker has been found. For example, against Morocco, you were in the middle of the starting line-up Marco Asensiowho is not a pure center forward.
– Spain wants to play so that the attacker works between the lines and the threat comes from the wing. That’s part of the problem. Now the opponents solved the matter so that the lines were drawn close. You could leave room in the back because the threat only came from the flanks. Controlling the wings is easier for the opponent, Kunnas summarizes.
Luis Enrique unlikely to continue as head coach after the disappointment of the World Cup. According to Kunnas, the structure of Spain’s playing has been the clearest of all in the current games. There’s no need to change it, it’s about diversifying the functions.
– Spain must be better able to modify their own way of working and play against different opponents, find alternatives for that. It’s never a bad thing to have a really clear gameplay, as long as you can modify it in relation to the match and its image. That requires different types of players and different choices, says Kunnas.