A wounded Spain will aim to get their World Cup challenge firmly back on track when they face Saudi Arabia in Atlanta on Sunday.
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said his players had been stung by the criticism after they were held to a goalless draw in their opening match by Cape Verde, the African archipelago of just over half a million people who are making their World Cup debut.
The European champions arrived in North America as one of the favourites, but with Lamine Yamal only able to appear as a second-half substitute on his return from injury, La Roja were unable to find the target against Cape Verde.
De la Fuente, who confidently described his squad as the best in the world before the tournament, said they would show their true colors on Sunday.
“This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday.
“There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Speculation about Yamal’s fitness has dominated Spain’s camp. The 18-year-old winger is still not ready to complete a full game, but De la Fuente is under pressure to play him from the start.
“The most important thing is that he’s back,” he said.
Saudi Arabia also drew their opening game 1-1 with Uruguay.
Saudis seek to repeat Argentina World Cup ‘miracle’ against Spain
Saudi Arabia coach Georgios Donis said his side cannot show Spain too much respect as they aim to repeat a shock victory over eventual winners Argentina at the 2022 World Cup.
Spain are under pressure to bounce back from a 0-0 draw against World Cup debutants Cape Verde, but face a Saudi side that themselves held Uruguay to a 1-1 draw in their opening game.
Donis only took charge of the 2034 World Cup hosts in April after short-lived reigns for Roberto Mancini and Herve Renard.
It was Renard who oversaw the famous win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Qatar during his first spell as Saudi boss and Donis is hoping those memories can inspire a similar outcome in Atlanta on Sunday.
“It’s nice to have miracles in football and we’ve seen it many times. We’ve seen it in the World Cup, we’ve seen it in other tournaments, we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs,” the Greek coach said at his pre-match press conference.
“It’s great to have great memories in our national team such as the game against Argentina.
“We have to play against one of the best teams in the world and it’s very important when you get to this sort of tournament and you have this sort of joy of playing against these teams to be able to enjoy those games, to respect the opponent but also not to respect them more than you should.”
Spain’s inability to break down the Cape Verdean defence highlighted La Roja’s reliance on the brilliance of Lamine Yamal.
The 18-year-old only featured as a second half substitute as he is eased back to fitness after a hamstring injury.
Yamal is expected to take his place in the starting line-up on Sunday, even though he is not yet ready to play 90 minutes.
Donis hailed the Barcelona winger as the “biggest talent” in world football right now and did not hold back in recognising that Spain are less effective without him.
“Spain is not the same team when Yamal is on the bench,” added Donis.
“I think Yamal is maybe this period the biggest talent in the world. I think he started to replace Messi in Barcelona in the best way.
“I didn’t see a player at this age to make this difference and to have this quality and to play with this maturity.
“For me the most important is not about the skills, but about the maturity and he knows what he can do every moment and that is the biggest difference.”
