The Spanish football team has earned its first three points of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this Wednesday, against Uzbekistan. Santi Denia’s men suffered more than expected but finally took the points by winning by the minimum, after a goal by Sergio Gómez who, minutes before, missed a penalty.
The path to achieving her second gold medal at the Games was a difficult one for her. The intense heat suffocated Spanish football in the first half. That and the threat of the debut curse – he had not won since 2000 after the 0-3 to South Korear- they weighed down Santi Denia’s team, thick in creation and zero verticality like the last version of the ‘tiki taka’ that led nowhere and forced the model to be changed.
With the great revelation of the LaLiga EA Sports season, the Barça player Pau Cubarsí, in the back line, and the recent European champions Fermín López and Álex Baena looking for the double in the starting eleven, Spain did not worry its unknown rival with a game as flat and shallow on both sides as the sun that beat down on the Parc des Princes.
Only a couple of crosses anticipated, however, the Spanish advantage, which came from an assist from Sergio Gómez that Abel Ruiz headed for the Almería player Marc Pubill to score at point-blank range shortly before the half-hour mark (minute 29). without Spain having deserved so much reward.
Far from breaking down Uzbekistan’s wall, the Asian U-23 runners-up continued their lively game, coming close to equalising with a powerful free kick on the edge of the area by a spirited and ever-present Jaloliddinov, but neutralised by an almost unprecedented Tena.
The equaliser came just after a penalty reviewed by VAR committed by Pau Cubarsi, slow and not as reliable as at FC Barcelona, on Hamraliev. Shomurodov managed to convert it with a slow-motion shot, although tight. hit the post in extra time before the much-needed break for the Olympic runners-up.
From a missed penalty to a goal
Denia’s half-time talk had an effect. With the nervous Cubarsi no longer on the pitch, a cutback from Oroz led to the penalty that Sergio Gómez tried to convert into 1-2 in the 59th minute after a group that had metamorphosed and was successfully putting pressure on the ball.
Gómez saw Nematov clear his shot into the centre with his feet, but he got his revenge with a subsequent assist from Miranda on the left wing that just three minutes later (min. 62) resulted in the final 1-2 despite the last attempts of a worthy rival who never gave up.
It was a dull victory, a victory that was typical of a debut in which the ‘Rojita’ came out lethargic and turned around in time to get out of the mess. Next Saturday, also starting at 3:00 p.m., they will have to avoid the siesta. against the Dominican Republic in Bordeaux to add another victory that will put them in the next phase.
Source: www.vozpopuli.com
