(Video) Luis Enrique’s men maintained the streak of Spain, which has not missed a World Cup since its absence in Germany-1974.
Spain qualified for the World Cup in Qatar-2022 this Sunday after winning 1-0 against Sweden, condemned to play the play-off that will give the last three European places.
A goal by Álvaro Morata (85) gave the victory that secured for Spain the first place in qualifying group B, the only one to qualify for the World Cup, ahead of the Nordics, second classified in the key.
The Swedes had started the week at the top of the group, but their defeat against Georgia on Thursday (2-0) and Spain’s victory in Greece (1-0) dropped them to second place.
The week could not have ended in a better way for the Red, who faced their last two qualifying matches forced to beat Greece and Sweden to get their ticket to Qatar.
Luis Enrique’s men maintained the streak of Spain, which has not missed a World Cup since its absence in Germany-1974.
La Roja, driven by a Sevillian La Cartuja stadium filled with almost 52,000 spectators after heeding the call of the Spanish coach, monopolized the ball from the first minute.
The Swedish team, despite the fact that it was only worth the victory, waited with the lines together to advance lines and pressure as the match progressed.
La Roja warned first, but with a shot from Pablo Sarabia a little off the mark (9), to which another shot from Emil Forsberg responded from the front to leave (16).
Spain moved the ball from one side to the other trying to find the flaws in the tight rival defense with the young midfielder Pablo Martín Páez Gaviria ‘Gavi’ recovering and putting balls between the lines.
The Barcelona player could hear how the whole stadium chanted his name on several occasions and dismissed him with applause when he was substituted.
Gunpowder from the bench
La Roja tried to reach the sides where Jordi Alba appeared, but it was again difficult for him to arrive in danger before a closed team.
Near the break, Spain seemed to take a step back in their pressure, allowing better approaches from the Swedes and a new cross from Forsberg that missed the post (39).
The Swedish player was, until his replacement, the one who led the most danger in his team, where his star Zlatan Ibrahimovic began the match on the bench.
The Milan striker would enter through Alexander Isak (73) to try to take advantage of long passes and balls hanging in the area.
La Roja regained control of the match after the break, but continued to have difficulty finding the gaps, which led Spanish coach Luis Enrique to look for more bite with the entries of Álvaro Morata and Rodrigo Moreno for Sarabia and Raúl de Tomás, very off.
The entry of Morata activated the attack of the Red, while Sweden with the passage of minutes took a step forward in the last quarter of an hour game.
With a more open Nordic team, Spain began to arrive in better condition in the Swedish area, but also lost the control that it had maintained until that moment.
The game turned into an uncontrolled exchange of blow until Dani Olmo released a distant shoe that was cleared by goalkeeper Robin Olsen, but the rejection was recovered by Morata to score the goal of the Spanish victory (86). (D)
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