ATLANTA — Coach Luis de la Fuente insisted that tournament favorites Spain won’t panic after being held to a 0-0 draw by underdogs Cape Verde in their opening World Cup game Monday.
Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha, 40, starred as Spain were denied a debut victory in Group H, with Lamine Yamal playing only the last 20 minutes.
The result increases the pressure on Spain ahead of their remaining group games against Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.
“This [Spain] team is reliable, whatever happens,” de la Fuente said in his postmatch 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.”
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De la Fuente praised Cape Verde’s defensive display while claiming the opponents — who had six shots to Spain’s 27 — were “clearly inferior.”
“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.”
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De la Fuente defended the decision to wait until the second-half hydration break to introduce Yamal, with Nico Williams coming on even later.
“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.”
