Spain out of UEFA Nations League's Final Four
Everything the Spanish national team needed was a tie between England and the world’s runner-up Croatia, an outcome that couldn’t be met at the end of the match. The situation was difficult for the Croatian team led by Zlatko Dalić, for they were in need of a win that would grant them three points on the table. However, after a very close first half of the match, the team led by Southgate ended up clenching the victory. Hence, England will enter the “Final Four” as the leader of Group 4, leaving Spain out of the competition until next season.
“La Roja” misses out on another opportunity to win an official title and secure a large amount of money as well. The competition will reward the winning team with 6 million of euros whereas the “Final Four” bottom qualifier will receive 2.5 million of euros.
It’s a shame that the Spanish team is out of the competition. The victory in Wembley and the six goals scored by the Spanish team in Croatia made people believe in the favouritism of Spain to be classified for the “Final Four”. Few would have foreseen that the classification of “La Roja to the “Final Four” would ultimately depend on England – Croatia match.
However, the most damaged team in this situation is not Spain, but Croatia. England sentence Croatia to descend to the “League B”, where they will encounter feared Germany, who is nevertheless facing a “nightmare year” experiencing both an early knock-out in the World Cup and now confirming relegation prior to the last fixture.
On the other hand, the recovering Netherlands that failed to qualify to the 2018 World Cup has managed to reach the final four, leaving reigning WC Champion France behind. Another surprise took place in Group 4, where Switzerland was able to defeat Belgium at home with an unexpected comeback of 5-2, thus joining England, Portugal and Holland among the final four, in a group in which the Portuguese are the only international champions.
The priorities for the teams that were not able to enter the “Final Four” are to work to get a place in the EUFA Euro 2020 qualifying, whose draw will be hold next December. The future of Spain is dark, and the national team must work even harder to overcome a streak of important of defeats in international competitions (Brazil 2014, Eurocup 2016, Russia 2018).
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