It can now officially be said that we are out and far away from the Spanish golden generation that terrorized footballing nations across the world for years.

Between the years 2008-2012 Spain were able to win 2 European titles, and of course edging out Dutch in the 2010 World Cup final to win their first and only World Cup.

Since then the old guard had officially retired but we are seeming glimpses of success through the new era of players. However, we are able to still see talent from this new Spanish side

Luis Enrique’s side finished qualifying with a 6-1-1 record. Allowing the Spaniards to top the group and gain automatic entry into the tournament. Only losing to Sweden and tying Greece early in the group.

Player to Watch: Pablo Gavi

The 18 year old midfielder is defiantly a young talent that takes inspiration from the golden generation that was previously mentioned. Pablo Gavi is an exciting young talent to watch due to his high technical dribbling, and unique ability to turn or change direction in a flash.

Though he is competing for starting spots against some of the world’s best midfielders, Gavi will see some play time and will be electric during that time.

How They Line Up

Spain line up in a 4-3-3 formation as per usual. This is the standard for most Spanish sides.

In net it will be Unai Simon, playing in front of Pau Torres and Aymeric Laporte. These two central defenders match the Spanish playstyle, given their talent on the ball.

Full backs like Dani Carvajal, and Jordi Alba likely make up the rest of the back line

In midfield Enrique has many options: Gavi, Pedri, Rodri, Koke, Soler, and Busquets are all options.

For attackers it will likely be a front three trio of Sarabia, Morata, and Torres. Meanwhile Dani Olmo will be the substitute attacking option looking to get in.

Missing Attackers

Something that we can see from the Spanish team is that they look world class on 2/3rds of the pitch. But when looking at the attackers, we are unable to find a true world class attacking threat. This possibly could lead to a lack of fire power, and a lack of consistant scoring.

Out of the all of the attacking options, Ferran Torres seems to be the most lethal, but given his performance in the past and on the club level, it will be unlikely that the top goal scorer of the tournament will be a Spaniard.

For Spain to be successful they need one of their attackers to step up, or find a way to have the offence be supplied by the entire team.

Expectation:

The success of the Spanish team depends on if they can find goal scoring. The talent on the team is there, but they are missing just that little bit of fire power and finish in the final third of the pitch.

With this in mind, a quarter final exit should be the bare minimum, but don’t be surprised if they go farther. They have the talent to do it.

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