If many players of the Spanish national team were walking around in the center of Madrid - they would not be recognized, a fact that only says that "La Roja" does not have the stars of the past, but not that the team is not strong.
The first test of Luis Enrique's team will be today against Costa Rica.
With all due respect to the children Federico (19), Gabi (18), Enso Fati (20), Jeremy Pino (20) and Nico Williams (20), for the veterans Sergio Busquets (34) and Jordi Alba (33) and the strikers Albero Morata (30) ) and Marco Asensio (26) - the undisputed star of the team is the coach.
So much so, that the most talked about thing in the camp in Doha is the interesting experiment on his Twitch where he talks about everything.
The challenge is to convince the fans not through the screen, but on the grass.
All the hot updates ahead of the intriguing meeting on the special World Cup channel of "Israel Hayom" on Telegram
And there is a huge hunger for the youngest team (average age 25.3) in the World Cup after Ghana and the USA. With 17 players under the age of 26, and 21 who are playing for the first time in the World Cup, this is the youngest group since the World Cup in 1934.
"It looks like an end-of-course trip," says "Professor" Enrique, who prefers that all the pressure be on him and not on the players.
Don't worry, he likes to be in the eye of the storm knowing that his decisions and strong character inspire love as well as enmity among the fans, and not least - among the commentators.
"Of course I am the leader, because I make the decisions," he admitted yesterday.
Everything will depend on the results, but already many people do not understand how he did not bring to Qatar Iago Espas (the best striker of the last decade), Borja Iglesias (eight league goals), Sergio Ramos (one of the best stoppers in history) and Alex Moreno (the best defender) today, which was not summoned even when Gaia was injured).
The expectation is that the coach, who is based on the 3-3-4 formation, will make rotations in the lineup, although in today's game the place of goalkeeper Unai Simon, Busquets, Pedri and Morata is certain.
A nostalgic meeting
Costa Rica has improved a lot defensively, thanks to Colombian coach Luis Fernandez Suarez.
This is excellent news for its most famous player, Keylor Navas.
"We are grateful to God, who gave us the great opportunity to be in the World Cup. Fate wanted us to hold the debut against a strong team that I love and know very much," said a former goalkeeper of Real Madrid, who will try to prevent goals from his friend Asensio.
We suck.
Waiting for the old friends, photo: AFP
According to him, the competitiveness of the Spaniards can be explained by the players who did not come, such as his close friend at Real, and now at PSG, Ramos.
In Costa Rica's squad, you should pay attention to the young striker Bennett.
Without the stopper, Spain's captain is Busquets, who won the World Cup when he was 21, and Qatar will be his fourth.
He strongly believes in a team full of talent and young people, most of whom he "educates" in Barcelona.
He admits that Brazil and his close friend Leo Messi's Argentina have an advantage because of their stars, but here it doesn't guarantee anything.
Saudi Arabia proved it in a big way.
After the failures in Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018), the Reds want to return to the golden era, which reached its peak in 2010.
But if back then there were stars and a coach who preferred to stay in the shadows - today the situation is the opposite.
Spain does not have an easy road ahead, because already in the early group is Germany, no matter the season - it is always competitive.
"This is a big team and we are young, but we are not afraid of anything and want to succeed," said Pedri, who was already one of the best players in the Euros about two years ago, when the team was not a favorite, but was only eliminated in the semi-finals by Italy.
Faced with the big test of who the new Andres Iniesta could be, the Barcelona midfielder would now sign the possibility of finishing like him - scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final.
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