Spain learned who they’ll face in the Nations League this afternoon. They’ll take on Portugal, Switzerland and the Czech Republic in their group, and given the good moment they’re living will be optimistic that they can make it to the Final Four.
They managed it this year, beating Italy in the semi-final only to lose to France in the final at San Siro. Spain have been playing good football, and also made it to the semi-final of Euro 2020 only to lose to eventual winners Italy at Wembley Stadium.
“It won’t be easy to get to the Final Four, no team has done it twice,” Spanish coach Luis Enrique said in comments carried by Cope. “But that’s great encouragement, even more so knowing that we also have the World Cup next November.
“We have good feelings with our memory of the most recent edition. It’s a very exciting competition and any of the rivals we face are going to bring complications. Of the three, we’ve recently played Portugal and Switzerland and we know them. The Czech Republic are an unknown quantity given they’ve recently been promoted. But it’s a competition that’s given us good memories.”
Luis Enrique has built a strong, cohesive squad with Spain. They don’t have the intergalactic stars of previous years, but they do have a balanced, exciting and youthful squad. If players like Pedri and Ansu Fati can return to full fitness – both are out injured right now – they’ll be in with a chance of mixing it with the very best.