• ‘This is an important warning … we have to sort it out’
Sergio Ramos described it as a “reality” and it was a troubling one. “We like to be honest, not to hide anything, to tell the truth,” Spain’s captain said, “and we have to say that this is not the path.” Actually, the path is shaping up to be a good one, two injury-time goals, one in each game in Group B, meaning Spain’s possible run to the final is likely to read something like Russia-Croatia-England rather than Uruguay-France-Brazil/Germany. But Ramos knows that the problem is not their opponents; it is Spain themselves. He admitted that the 2010 champions will have to improve to reach the final.
Fortunate to qualify for the last 16 in first place, Spain have conceded five goals at the World Cup – three against Portugal, two against Morocco – and it might have been more had Iran taken their chances in the second game in Kazan. In their fragility, Spain look very different to the team that went through the knockout rounds of Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro2012 without conceding. “I have told the players that five goals conceded in two games is not the way: in this game we did all the good things and all the bad things too,” said the coach, Fernando Hierro.
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