Spain come out victorious from the first game of the EURO 2024 qualifiers after beating Norway in a tight game as Luis de la Fuente made his managerial debut with the first team. La Rosaleda had the honour to receive the first game post-World Cup and had a warm welcome from the fans.
Dani Olmo opened the scoresheet in the 11th minute after a good reaction from Balde´s cross. With that done, it was time for Spain to slow down the game but Norway did not give up and kept taking advantage of Spain´s mistakes to counter. Just before halftime, Kepa stopped the visitors from levelling up after a point-blank volley that got saved miraculously.
At the start of the second half, Stale Solbakken's men kept applying pressure with a good outcome as they created their best chances of the game, making the Spanish work harder in defence and Kepa producing a double save to keep their team in the lead.
Joselu ended up being the hero of the night that no one expected as he came from the bench in the 80th minute and scored two goals in the last ten minutes of the game to put an end to it. The debutant had a dream night as the whole stadium chanted his name in unison.
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Joselu, the star
The Espanyol striker is the second player in the Spanish national team history to score a goal after being born in Germany, being Curro Torres the first one. The international made his first appearance, hence debut, and did it fashion by scoring the last two goals of the game when Spain needed it most.
At the age of 33, he is reliving a second youth as he got called to the national team after a good season with Espanyol. So far, 12 goals and two assists in 23 games for the striker.
Not only happy with scoring one, but he also scored two goals in the space of two minutes, being the quickest Spanish debutant player to do so. A perfect way to start his career as an international player and that for sure will have more chances to come.
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Norway put Spain against the ropes
Norway has proven to be a contender to qualify for the EURO 2024 in their group. A good performance in Málaga that has not gone unnoticed even without their main star, alongside Martin Odegaard, Erling Haaland. The Manchester City striker had to leave the team due to an injury and therefore miss today's game. With the number 9 upfront, the scoreboard would have been totally different.
Both Odegaard and Haaland will soon link again and make their country proud. The style implemented benefits both, putting through balls for the striker to run and finish clinically.
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Room for improvement
Even though Luis Enrique is not the coach anymore, Spain will never lose their essence. De la Fuente has taken this team, modified it but kept their style. Although, they are no longer a 1,000 passes per game team and even though it is only one game, they were more straightforward, looking to be more horizontal and trying different ways to approach the goal.
De la Fuente has homework to do after the game. He has seen the positives and the negatives from this game and even though Spain managed to get the first three points of the qualifiers, the team has much to improve after the performance.
Starting from the defence, they have proven to still be vulnerable to counters like at the World Cup. A defence that high has a weakness to teams who counterattack and they have suffered that against Norway.
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There is more than Haaland
Haaland will be an important piece if not the most to Norway´s road to EURO 2024. Nonetheless, his teammates showed courage and willingness to fight until the end no matter what team they face.
It will most likely come down to the final games of the group stage and will give their all against Scotland, their direct rivals. Besides Odegaard and Haaland, they possess players of top quality such as Nyland, Berg, Berge or Elyounoussi.
Norway looks to qualify for the EUROs as their last appearance was in 2000. Since then, five editions without qualifying.