Spain face last chance to capitalise on advantages and salvage Euro 2020 campaign


Ian Hawkey
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With the knockout rounds beckoning, Spain have emerged at the top of the class at Euro 2020 in all sorts of areas.

Their share of possession is way out in front of the rest. They cross the ball more, on average, than any other team in the championship. And they could be packing up all their handsome statistics and heading out of the tournament by the end of Wednesday night.

The 2008 and 2012 European champions take on Slovakia – who are on three points and second in Group E – in Seville still stuck in third gear and with some symptoms of a bad temper. There have been boos from the crowd and indignation from the players about that animosity.

Far from gaining an advantage from playing every one of their group matches at home, Spain give the impression they might be happier elsewhere: there have been complaints about the state of the pitch at the Cartuja stadium, and mutterings about the extra demands made by the heat of Andalucia in June.

Luis Enrique, the head coach, had wanted to go into the last pool match “with six points and no goals conceded,” he admitted. “But now we face a decisive moment.”

The key stats so far: one goal scored, scant reward for all that possession and all those crosses; one conceded, to Poland’s Robert Lewandowski. Spain have drawn both their games – 0-0 against a crabby Sweden on the opening matchday – which means the only guarantee of progress is victory on Wednesday.

They should welcome back captain Sergio Busquets, whose positive coronavirus test a week before the tournament threw Spain's plans into some disarray. Not only did a relatively inexperienced squad miss their most worldly player while he was isolating, but because of the protocols following a positive test in the camp, opportunities for full collective training sessions were reduced.

Spain are not the only squad to have this sort of setback, but they were not best equipped to cope with it. Luis Enrique had selected a 24-man party – he chose not to pick the allowed 26 – in which several new partnerships needed developing, almost from scratch.

Manchester City's Aymeric Laporte, for instance, only began his Spain career – he switched allegiance from his native France in May – just before Euro 2020, and slotted into a centre-back pairing with Pau Torres that went into the tournament with just 63 minutes' worth of friendly-match rehearsal. Their partnership already had some awkwardness to overcome, given they are both left-footed.

When Lewandowski, with the help of a firm shove, beat Laporte to head in Poland's equaliser on Saturday, several thousand Spaniards immediately thought of Sergio Ramos. The former Spain captain and central defender, owner of 180 international caps, and by his own account fully recovered from the injuries that disrupted the end of his club season, was controversially left out of Luis Enrique's squad.

The manager’s vision of a Spain which has an eye on the long-term future is radical. It has had Marcos Llorente, the Atletico Madrid midfielder, at right-back. It has Barcelona’s Pedri, only 18, entrusted with creative responsibility in midfield.

There is no shortage of opportunity to get Pedri on the ball, given Spain’s skill at circulating it, but their difficulties in converting their keep-ball into goals is already ominously reminiscent of underachieving Spanish teams in the past.

Spain exited the last World Cup at the last-16 stage after taking an almost 80 per cent share of possession over 120 sterile minutes against Russia. They drew 1-1 and lost the penalty shoot-out.

Against Poland, Gerard Moreno struck the post with a penalty and, first to the rebound, Alvaro Morata put his effort wide, the sort of miss that has made Morata the target of the fiercest boos from the crowd. The Juventus striker did score the goal against the Poles, but fluffed enough chances against Sweden that he remains under scrutiny.

“Morata has done a lot of things very well,” said Luis Enrique, who will make some changes to his XI. There’s a probable return for Busquets, perhaps Cesar Azpilicueta in at right-back instead of Llorente, and perhaps a first Euro 2020 start for Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara in midfield.

"It's a crossroads for us against Slovakia, and effectively it's a knockout game," said Azpilicueta, who led Chelsea to victory in the ultimate club knockout competition, the Champions League, last month. "Of course we know there are things we should be doing better, but it's important to also remember what we're doing well. "

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Match info

Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace

Man of the match: Cheikhou Kouyate (Crystal Palace)

Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?

Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.

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“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.

He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.

Generation Start-up: Awok company profile

Started: 2013

Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev

Sector: e-commerce

Size: 600 plus

Stage: still in talks with VCs

Principal Investors: self-financed by founder

What went into the film

25 visual effects (VFX) studios

2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots

1,000 VFX artists

3,000 technicians

10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers

New sound technology, named 4D SRL

 

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

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MATCH INFO

Everton 0

Manchester City 2 (Laporte 45 2', Jesus 90 7')

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Company profile

Name: Oulo.com

Founder: Kamal Nazha

Based: Dubai

Founded: 2020

Number of employees: 5

Sector: Technology

Funding: $450,000

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

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Company name: Nybl 

Date started: November 2018

Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence

Initial investment: $500,000

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ACL Elite (West) - fixtures

Monday, Sept 30

Al Sadd v Esteghlal (8pm)
Persepolis v Pakhtakor (8pm)
Al Wasl v Al Ahli (8pm)
Al Nassr v Al Rayyan (10pm)

Tuesday, Oct 1
Al Hilal v Al Shorta (10pm)
Al Gharafa v Al Ain (10pm)

Know your Camel lingo

The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home

Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless

Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers

Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s

Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival

While you're here
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

 

 

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Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

India Test squad

Virat Kohli (c), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill

Simran

Director Hansal Mehta

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey

Three stars

RESULT

Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1 
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’

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Super Rugby play-offs

Quarter-finals

  • Hurricanes 35, ACT 16
  • Crusaders 17, Highlanders 0
  • Lions 23, Sharks 21
  • Chiefs 17, Stormers 11

Semi-finals

Saturday, July 29

  • Crusaders v Chiefs, 12.35pm (UAE)
  • Lions v Hurricanes, 4.30pm
bundesliga results

Mainz 0 Augsburg 1 (Niederlechner 1')

Schalke 1 (Caligiuri pen 51') Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Miranda og 81')