Photo courtesy of BBC
EDITOR’s NOTE: Elevated Media does not condone the conditions in which the World Cup came together nor is our coverage acceptance of the outdated viewpoints of Qatari leaders.
In the second game of Group E today, Spain outworked, outplayed and embarrassed Costa Rica for 90 minutes as they beat them 7-0.
Costa Rica was outplayed from the early minutes as Pedri delivered a beautiful ball across the box to Dani Olmo in the 5th minute, and all he had to do was hit the target, but Olmo wasn’t able to finish it. This would only be a sign of things to come as Spain would control possession the entire game and create countless chances.
Dani Olmo got a second chance only minutes later and made no mistake this time. In the 11th minute, after superb passing in Costa Rica’s final third and a beautiful flick from Gavi, the ball fell to Dani Olmo’s feet and all he had to do was turn and shoot, and he did calmly as he chipped it over the hands of Keylor Navas.
The early domination from Spain made it clear another goal was coming. In the 20th minute a great cross from Jordi Alba found Marco Asensio in the middle of the box and he finished with great technique to slot it past Navas to make it 2-0.
The Spaniards pressed and played a high back line; as they always have done under Luis Enrique and it worked to perfection as they created constant pressure and opportunities which never allowed Costa Rica to get in rhythm. The talented Barcelona trio of Pedri, Gavi and Busquets overwhelmed the Costa Ricans and controlled the play for Spain. Once the ball got into the final third, Costa Rica had no answers.
Things would only go from bad to worse for Costa Rica in the first half; as in the 30th minute Jordi Alba was fouled from behind in the box and won Spain a penalty. Ferran Torres, playing in his first World Cup, calmly stepped up and slotted the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-0.
Costa Rica is known for their conservative play but that only worked against them in this game. They were not able to produce a single shot today and were simply outworked. They couldn’t handle the youth and energy of the “Red Fury ” and were tactically outplayed by the likes of Busquets, Alba and Rodri.
The second half was much of the same for both sides, Spain never let up and controlled possession like they did in the first half.
That led to another easy goal for Spain out of the break. In the 54th minute, Ferran Torres received a cross from Gavi and after Navas wasn’t able to reach the ball, Torres slotted it into the back of the net to get his second goal of the day and made it 4-0.
Spain brought on some more youth with Alejandro Balde and Nico Williams entering the game in the 64th and 69th minutes, making their World Cup debuts. They were the 3rd and 4th players under 20 years old to play for Spain in this game. Enrique is clearly not scared to play the youth, and it only shows how bright the future is for Spain.
That youth of the Red Fury added to their onslaught as Alvaro Morata crossed a ball into the top of the box where Gavi was able to hit it beautifully on the outside of his foot to score maybe the goal of this tournament so far, and made it 5-0.
Then, Carlos Soler and Morata put the cherry on top for Spain as they scored in the 90th and 90+2 minutes to put them up 6-0 and then 7-0 and complete their blowout of Costa Rica.
Spain is now in the driver’s seat for the rest of the group stage, but will switch their focus to a talented German side, who just dropped three points to Japan, and will be looking for a win to put them back in contention to get out of Group E. Costa Rica, on the other hand, has dug themselves into a hole that will take a miracle to crawl out of, but they must take it game by game. In four days, they will play a good Japanese team who have all the momentum, but Costa Rica will look to take at least a point to keep their World Cup dreams alive.
