UEFA Nations League: Nagelsmann calls second leg against Italy a ‘fifty-fifty’ case
Ahead of the UEFA Nations League encounter against Italy, Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann is assessing the intermediate status from a football perspective.
Spain national team coach Luis de la Fuente has several questions to resolve ahead of the first leg of his side’s UEFA Nations League quarter final on Thursday.
Spain plays the Netherlands in Rotterdam on Thursday with the return leg in Valencia on Sunday. De la Fuente’s first decision is who will play in goal, with Unai Simon available again after recovering from the wrist operation he needed after last summer’s European Championship as reported by Xinhua.
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The 27-year-old with 46 appearances for Spain has always been first choice for De la Fuente when fit, but Arsenal’s David Raya did an excellent job covering for Simon during the autumn and Simon is still not back to his very best, with a couple of important errors for Athletic Club Bilbao in the past two months.
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If there is an embarrassment of riches in goal, the coach has a more serious problem with who starts in central defense, with injuries to Dani Vivian, Aymeric Laporte and Inigo Martinez robbing Spain of a lot of experience.
Robin le Normand looks certain to start and the coach will have to decide between Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsi, Real Madrid’s Raul Asencio and Bournemouth’s young Dean Huijsen to partner him.
Martin Zubimendi, Mekel Merino and Pedri will probably play in midfield, with Fabian Ruiz also having options, while there are few doubts in attack, where Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams will provide pace down the flanks with Alvaro Morata leading the line.
Ferran Torres failed to train on Wednesday before the squad traveled to the Netherlands, but should be fit to take up a place on the subs’ bench on Thursday
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