Spain’s boss Luis de la Fuente said his team won’t panic after a goalless draw against Cape Verde in Atlanta on Monday. Fuente’s team could not find the back of the net despite eight shots on target.
Spain, the second-ranked team in FIFA rankings, dominated the possession with 62% but Cape Verde was brilliant in their defense. Vozinha, Cape Verde’s goalkeeper, made seven saves to keep Spain at bay.
Thus, there will be pressure on Spain for their remaining group games against Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.
“This [Spain] team is reliable, whatever happens,” de la Fuente said in his postmatch news conference. “We’re a team with an extraordinary reliability. We haven’t lost in 32 matches. We’ll be better in the next game, for sure.
“When you lack freshness and getting the final ball right, this can happen. It’s something to improve, nothing else. We’ll stay on our path, which has taken us this far.”
De la Fuente hailed Cape Verde’s defensive game as they were really compact throughout the game.
“In this World Cup there’s extreme equality and difficulty,” he said. “This team was clearly inferior to us, but they did the things they had to do well.
“We have to keep growing. With the talent these players have, that’s the way. We’re calm. This is a long tournament, and in our heads we’ve still got seven games left.”
Spain’s captain Rodri admitted they need to improve in front of the goal for the upcoming matches.
“We knew we had to be patient,” captain Rodri said. “They sat back; we created chances, we couldn’t score. It’s tough against such a physical team. The positive is they hardly created anything, but we have to improve in front of goal.”
De la Fuente also defended the decision to introduce impactful players like Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams later in the game.
“Obviously, they’re two players who can make the difference, but the players on the pitch are very good, too,” the coach said. “In the next game, the alternatives will increase and the team will grow.
“Today, that was the amount of time we understood [Yamal] could play.”
Spain will next take on Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
