الخميس، 4 سبتمبر 2014

France 1, Spain 0 - No Xavi, no glory


Bad performance, with only one Blaugrana.


Looks like Spain is going to miss Xavi Hernández, now retired from international competition. At least for now.


In their first game without the legendary playmaker, La Roja delivered a terrible performance and ended up losing to France 1-0 in Paris. Sure, it's a new era for Spain and adjustments need to be made, but they really struggled to play against a good side in France.


Koke from Atlético Madrid has been selected to replace Xavi. He was perhaps the best Spanish on the field, doing some of the Xavi role and doing his own thing that made him a star at Atleti. Cesc Fábregas, who replaced Andrés Iniesta, out of the match with an injury, also played well, and created the few chances his team had. Sergio Busquets, the only Blaugrana that started the game, did his stuff like always, defending well and initiating the offense.


Spain's defense was suspect, as Vicente Del Bosque made experiments with Azpilicueta in the place of Jordi Alba and Mikel San José alongside Sergio Ramos, in place of Gerard Piqué, who was also left off the squad.


Their opponents did well. France didn't have the ball as much, but when they did, they were quick and creative, and scored the lone goal in the second half, with Loic Rémy finishing a great team play involving Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena.


In the end, important win from the French, who seem to be in the right track using the same squad from the World Cup going forward. Spain it's in a different place now. They need to figure out how to move on, and they'll have to do it without Xavi.






from Barca Blaugranes - All Posts http://ift.tt/1t6IfM3

0 التعليقات:

إرسال تعليق

.