GWT: World Cup - Round of 16 - Morocco v. Spain

[Bon Esprit]

Won't happen, but I voted Morocco.

oops!

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Good thing Spain avoided winning the group and having to face a challenge in their first knockout match

Hey, they avoided Brazil. Great success!

 

[Cloned]

Smashing penalties into the top bins has become a lost art. Those Spanish penalties were meek. Only Busquets’ had a real chance of going in, and Bounou said no.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Ya Lucho should be fired lol. What a failure. Like I said he isnt good.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Smashing penalties into the top bins has become a lost art. Those Spanish penalties were meek. Only Busquets’ had a real chance of going in, and Bounou said no.

Best penalty shootout I've seen was England-Germany SF at Euro 96. 90% of them were unsaveable. Kopke basically saved the 1st bad one.

 

[NyQuil]

You knew Spain were doomed when their first PK taker was the guy they subbed on late in ET, who in the 5 minutes he was on the pitch hit at least two terrible corners and missed a sitter in the last minute of ET. Could see the doubt and fear in his face even then.

That's a pretty harsh definition of a sitter.

He did well to get it on net given the extreme angle.

 

[IamNotADancer]

For the future, Spain needs to find somebody, who can score goals in bigger matches. They started the tournament with all guns blazing, but then sunk quickly.

All group E teams are now out.

I can only repeat myself, they left two guys at home who were top scorers in La Liga. Enrique decided to leave them home.

Simon is a terrible goalie and does not have good foot work. Enrique's excuse for leaving de Gea home was that Simon fits his system much better with his passing. Let that sink in.

Enrique had to prove a point the second he was made national coach, there is a reason people outside of Barcelona don't like him.

All tournament you had to listen from the Fox pundits like genius Lala's that he is the "type of coach who doesn't care about what people say". Actually he does, he just makes it a mission to do the complete opposite.

The ONE positive I take from this Spain team is Nico Williams, that guy has a bright future.

 

[Moncherry]

Spain has such a lackadaisical style of playing it's maddening. No cutting edge or intensity to their game at all. Even their penalties were that weak, pass-it-into-the-net bullshit.

 

[Power Man]

De Gea could have helped in PKs but Enrique prefers Pepball GKs

 

[les Habs]

Hakimi is potentially my new favourite player after that pen and celebration.

Really not impressed by Enrique sitting on the bench with his legs crossed during the entire shootout. A manager should be on the touchline arm-in-arm with his squad. This isn't a friendly.

Should've yanked Busquets for Azpi and had a real leader on the pitch for the shootout to take a penalty

Wow. I'll just go with the captain bit. As someone who has consistently challenged his captaincy at Barça for years, and probably the only person on this forum to do so, I don't think it matters. And I'll go so far as to say at all. If you think Azpilicueta being on the pitch for the shootout instead of Busquets would have meant Spain winning this penalty shootout then I don't know what to tell you. You probably think Ronaldo won it for Portugal from the bench in 2016.

For the future, Spain needs to find somebody, who can score goals in bigger matches. They started the tournament with all guns blazing, but then sunk quickly.

All group E teams are now out.

They don't have any top drawer 9s. You can argue they might have had someone better than Morata, but that's splitting hairs. They have two young guys who are putting up impressive numbers at youth levels, but they're not in first teams yet and while the Uefa Youth League isn't a bad gauge it doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

That's a pretty harsh definition of a sitter.

He did well to get it on net given the extreme angle.

Totally open on the far side. And he didn't get it on net. It clipped the outside edge of the post because it was somewhere between a pass and an attempt on net. I've seen those scored by much lesser players in BuLi matches.

 

[Savant]

Soler…you knew he was missing.

And the Morocco goalie he was so up for it. You could tell he was having the time of his life out there. Hope Morocco gets to semis

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Spain has such a lackadaisical style of playing it's maddening. No cutting edge or intensity to their game at all. Even their penalties were that weak, pass-it-into-the-net bullshit.

Well, if literally all they do is pass all day how can you expect them to know how to shoot?

 

[Power Man]

 

[les Habs]

De Gea could have helped in PKs but Enrique prefers Pepball GKs

Victor Valdes could have helped too, but it's highly likely it wouldn't have mattered and it's REALLY obvious.

 

[dalewood12]

Tough loss for Spain, but their team is still quite young and they have a bright future.

 

[NyQuil]

Totally open on the far side. And he didn't get it on net. It clipped the outside edge of the post because it was somewhere between a pass and an attempt on net. I've seen those scored by much lesser players in BuLi matches.

It was still a volley on a full run.

I've seen them scored but it's still a tricky goal and certainly not a sitter.

A sitter is a tap in on a cross while standing in front of the net.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

It was still a volley on a full run.

I've seen them scored but it's still a tricky goal and certainly not a sitter.

A sitter is a tap in on a cross while standing in front of the net.

Obviously it isn't a tap-in, but the thing is if you get that on net, it's a near certain goal. Even if he gets a hard low cross in, the odds of it ending in the net are pretty good. He just chose the most elegant but probably lowest % solution with the least determination. Which summarizes the entire Spanish effort really.

The point was anyway that you saw the guy after that and you can tell he had a look of deep concern and anxiety to him. You don't want guys in that mood hitting PKs. But he was subbed on essentially for PKs so it was obvious he had to take one.

 

[Cloned]

De Gea could have helped in PKs but Enrique prefers Pepball GKs

In fairness Simon actually did his job and stopped one. He’s the least culpable player. Can’t win if your team literally scores 0.

 

[NyQuil]

The point was anyway that you saw the guy after that and you can tell he had a look of deep concern and anxiety to him. You don't want guys in that mood hitting PKs. But he was subbed on essentially for PKs so it was obvious he had to take one.

Yeah, he had that thousand-yard stare.

 

[Panteras]

Luis Enrique is not the right man for the job. Spain have a good generation and pool of players to be better and get better results at major events. All credit to Morocco of course. But Spain need to learn how to adapt to teams that park the bus and play a run and gun style of counter play. They look shook when they are chasing for the ball. They also play with no intensity as they expect teams to sit back all the time so they’re content with passing and trying to find spaces. This generate chances no doubt, but Morocco is not Costa Rica, their bus is mightier….and they are fast and counter really well so they can kill the game one punch. As others have stated Spain also doesn’t have a box killer, Morata ain’t it and everyone else is just playmakers. Even then, they have the team to beat most others, it’s just that they are refusing to adapt to situations.. they’re living and dying by the possession philosophy…

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Can't say we deserved any better lol

 

[IamNotADancer]

Smashing penalties into the top bins has become a lost art. Those Spanish penalties were meek. Only Busquets’ had a real chance of going in, and Bounou said no.

Pisses me off every time I watch a PK nowadays. Drove me up the wall in the Japan/Croatia game as well.

Top corner, not a goalie in the world will ever save that spot. Instead these guys decide to shot it either middle, low corner or half high into the path of the goalies. And the worst current penalty trend is the freaking bunny hop... No nerves to blast it top right or left but plenty of cojones for a damn bunny hop?

 

[Lambo]

Spain lost to Japan because they believed they were taking the easier route. They wanted to avoid Brazil. Goal achieved! If anyone deserves to be eliminated, it's Spain. Congratulations Morocco! They punished this arrogance!

 

[IamNotADancer]

Luis Enrique is not the right man for the job. Spain have a good generation and pool of players to be better and get better results at major events. All credit to Morocco of course. But Spain need to learn how to adapt to teams that park the bus and play a run and gun style of counter play. They look shook when they are chasing for the ball. They also play with no intensity as they expect teams to sit back all the time so they’re content with passing and trying to find spaces. This generate chances no doubt, but Morocco is not Costa Rica, their bus is mightier….and they are fast and counter really well so they can kill the game one punch. As others have stated Spain also doesn’t have a box killer, Morata ain’t it and everyone else is just playmakers. Even then, they have the team to beat most others, it’s just that they are refusing to adapt to situations.. they’re living and dying by the possession philosophy…

Del Bosque had a whole generation to teach the tikitaka, Enrique figured he can just tell his guys to pass the ball back and forth but forgot how to relay to them how to crack the 11 man defensive shell. Enrique needs to go. Not sure if he is the right guy but somehow I think if Enrique is fired they will try Martinez from Belgium since he is stepping down there. Just makes too much sense