The curse of the penalties, "a mistake by an investigative committee" and takeover: Luis Enrique kidnaps - voila! FIFA World Cup

Watch the recap of Morocco's victory over Spain: courtesy of Kaan 11 - the official broadcaster of the 2022 World Cup. Live broadcasts, recaps, statistics and more await you on Kaan's World Cup page

Round of 16, penalties: these expressions have become a curse for the Spanish team, which once again failed to pass the round of 16 in the World Cup, and after 120 minutes from zero, lost 3:0 to Morocco yesterday (Tuesday) in a duel of kicks from 11 meters, when this is the fourth time in history that "La Roja" is eliminated from the World Cup on penalties - more than any other team.

Spain has played 11 games since winning the World Cup in 2010, and only won three of them.

Naturally, most of the fire was absorbed by coach Luis Enrique, about whom it was written in "Marca" that he "disappointed even those most loyal to him".

After Lucho gave the national team players as homework to kick a thousand penalties in the summer to prepare for a possible decision from the penalty spot in the World Cup, the Spaniards did not score in any of their three kicks: "The penalty shootout summed up what Spain was for most of this World Cup. Total ineffectiveness in attack."

In the local media, they admitted that all the opponents already know how to play against Spain, and criticized one specific tactical move by the coach: "To put Pedri as a defender? It requires an investigation committee. Luis Enrique tried to surprise Morocco when he placed Pedri in the defender position and Marcos Llorente in the middle. The change is not noticeable about the team, but he convinced the coach and he decided to do the same with Gabi."

Another failure in the round of 16.

Spain national team players (Photo: Reuters)

In "Mundo Deportivo" the coach was criticized for the dominance he displayed: "He gave the players homework, to kick at least a thousand penalties. To Unai Simon, the goalkeeper coach gave a note with an explanation about the Moroccan kickers. Luis Enrique chose the kickers, even though usually the players who feel the most kick Confidence. He didn't ask. Luis Enrique wanted to interfere even in the decision of who takes penalties, probably to take pressure off his players and give them confidence, but he achieved the complete opposite. Throughout the World Cup, he suppressed their decision-making ability."

The Catalan newspaper stung the coach, who held Twitch broadcasts during the World Cup and talked about all kinds of topics not related to football: "There is more talk about how he eats his eggs, than about why Enso Fati is not playing, or Llorente, or Pablo Sarabia. There is more talk about His bike and in Chijon (his hometown) confirms what the team lacked when an opponent like Japan panicked the players. The experiment started well, because it humanized the image of a coach who wanted to protect his players. He thought that if he took them out of focus he would protect them, but The reality is that he prevented them from facing the difficulties."

expected to pay the price.

Luis Enrique (Photo: Reuters)

Luis Enrique's contract will expire at the end of 2022, and next week there will probably be a meeting between him and the chairman of the Spanish Federation, Luis Rubiales, and in light of the failure, it is estimated that his chances of continuing on the national team's lines are low.

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