Coach Luis Enrique of Spain is choosing not to dwell on the shortcomings of his team’s defeat to Japan and is instead emphasizing how brilliantly La Roja performed throughout their World Cup group stage matches.
Japan defeated Spain 2-1 on Thursday to win Group E, sending Germany home early and securing a matchup with Croatia in the round of 16.
In comparison to Japan’s 228 passes, Spain attempted 1,058 passes, had 82.3% of the possession, and had 12 shots—five of which found the target.
However, Japan’s six attempts totaled out to a combined anticipated goals (xG) of 1.45, with Ritsu Doan and Junya Ito scoring in the span of three second-half minutes, compared to Spain’s 1.04 total.
If media allegations in Spain are to be accepted, Luis Enrique, a former coach of Barcelona, may not remain in charge of Spain after the World Cup, but he is fully confident in his strategy going into Tuesday’s match with Morocco.
“We are talking about 270 minutes if I’m not wrong, plus added time [in the group stage],” Luis Enrique said in a press conference when he was asked if his team failed to recover from setbacks during matches.
“Out of 300 minutes in total, you focus on 10 minutes that you didn’t like. As far as we progress, you will see more of these minutes.
“We are footballers and the opponents also play. There are things to be improved, and I’m sure we will be bitten by Morocco in some moments of the game.
“We can’t take blows? What about them? Did Germany take it well when we scored? We are in a competition where the score dictates the risk you are willing to take.
“Other teams pull back but we keep attacking and of course we need to improve that.”
Asked if his team lacked the experience required to see out spells of pressure, Luis Enrique replied: “It’s such a cliche, we have to try and get rid of this idea.
“I don’t believe they lacked experience. Experience in what? Being builders, carpenters? When you lose, people talk about issues and if you win, they don’t.
“I don’t share this analysis. This team will be recognised by the way we play, analyse our matches, our philosophy but not these sorts of issues.
“Mistakes happen, we are talking about a very complex, unfair sport, 11 players on a huge field, it’s impossible to control all the aspects.
“At the end of the day the ones making the decisions are the players, I want them to implement my idea and I want them to buy the whole package when they lose, it’s not fair to only buy it when we win.”
Spain have only made it beyond the round of 16 once at the last four World Cups, when they went on to win the trophy in South Africa in 2010. This record, though, is of no concern to Luis Enrique.
“This is not our usual trend, to look at everything from a negative perspective,” he said.
“I am not concerned about those results. I want to control the things I can control as a coach. I want my team to play in a certain way, I want my players to forget about the result.
“Football is not fair but if you have more merit you usually win the game. I am convinced we will have more merit than Morocco. Our objective was to play seven games, so we want to play seven games.”