Spain coach Luis de la Fuente says that his team will not be flustered despite drawing their first game to underdog Cape Verde in the Group H match on Monday, Yankee Scores reports.
Goalkeeper Vozinha of Cape Verde, 40, made some stunning saves for his side that prevented Spain from securing a win in their first appearance in the tournament.
The result adds more pressure for Spain before their other group matches against Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.
“This [Spain] team is reliable, whatever happens,” de la Fuente said in his post match 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 acknowledged Cape Verde’s defensive display while claiming the opponents — who had six shots to Spain’s 27 — were “clearly inferior,” per ESPN.
“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.”
“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 Defends Substitution Decisions
De la Fuente’s introduction of Yamal and Nico Williams after the second half hydration break has been heavily criticized. However, De La Fuente defended his decision thus:
“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.”
