It may be of scant consolation to Spain that it is far from the first time they entered a World Cup among the favourites and got an immediate and unpleasant surprise. In 2014, as now, they crossed the Atlantic as reigning European champions. Then they were World Cup holders, too. Their tournament started with a 5-1 evisceration by the Netherlands. An era ended.
A dozen years on, Spain at least have a point on the board. But has a draw ever provided a greater shock in the World Cup? If so, not many. Historically, anyway, draws seemed anathema to Americans but if anything can convert the doubters to the beauty of a stalemate it is Spain 0 Cape Verde 0. The underdogs did not win in Atlanta, but they were the winners. Perhaps Spain's stumbles will not matter in the eventual reckoning, just as it did not when Germany conceded to Curacao , but this was a chastening start for La Roja . They have a long unbeaten run, a depth of talent, a host of midfielders. They had no goals.
This was the team who beat England , France , Germany, Italy and Croatia in Euro 2024. They found their nemesis in the third smallest country to qualify for a World Cup. Cape Verde struck a blow for the 48-team World Cup. In a 32-team tournament, Spain crashed out in the group stages. With the safety net for the third-placed teams, that should not happen again.
Cape Verde celebrated their 0-0 draw against European champions Spain (AP)
There is an obvious reason to think a goalless draw might not be fatal to their chances. With neither fully fit and each being eased into the tournament, Lamine Yamal was absent for three-quarters of the game, Nico Williams for all but the last few minutes. Yet it did underline the importance of the wingers who added another dimension in Euro 2024.
Luis de la Fuente's answer was not really an answer: to try the same shape, but without natural wide men. Ferran Torres is more of a centre-forward, Gavi more of a central midfielder. There may have been more of a logic to fielding the same 11 with a diamond in midfield and two up front. Such width as Spain had going forward often came from the full-backs, Marc Cucurella and Marcos Llorente . But Cape Verde were able to adopt a narrow, compact defensive block.
Spain paid, too, for a slow start. It can be a familiar failing of a national team often too keen to be on the ball, rather than to actually do something with it. Spain only had two shots before the first hydration break. A striker starved of service, Mikel Oyarzabal did not even touch the ball in the opening half an hour.
It allowed Cape Verde to settle into the game. A goalkeeper in his fifth decade ended up excelling but did not have to initially. The 40-year-old Vozinha plies his trade in the Portuguese second flight, with Chaves. Dublin-born Pico Lopes, the centre-back, plays in the League of Ireland with Shamrock Rovers. He was brilliant. Alongside him, Diney Borges could have won it in the 91st minute with a header from a corner.
Instead, it was Spain's second successive stalemate in World Cup games. In the 2022 exit to Morocco , Spain did not even score in the penalty shootout. They had 77 per cent of the ball, and accomplished nothing, with a lone shot on target. Go back a further four years and the 2018 shootout loss to Russia was the day a philosophy ate itself, a match of a thousand passes but very few indications they would score, or even try to. Possession without penetration has been a Spanish problem in the past.
De la Fuente seemed to have addressed that. Wingers were the great difference in 2024 and not merely in a tactical sense. De la Fuente fused traditional Spanish strengths with a more attacking ethos.
Lamine Yamal only played a quarter of the game and his absence was keenly felt by Spain (Getty)
Cape Verde's 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha had an exceptional game and earned a clean sheet (Reuters)
Against Cape Verde, he started without any genuine wingers and finished with two. Spain ended up showing the urgency some of their predecessors lacked; they finished with 27 shots, seven on target. But some were wayward long-range efforts. They lacked real creativity, the idea of how to forge a breakthrough. Instead, they descended into desperation.
One cause for concern may be that Spain lack a top-class striker; Torres and Oyarzabal have 49 international goals between them but among the probable contenders, France have more firepower. And Spain's World Cup win came in a tournament when David Villa scored five goals, all vital.
But to go back 16 years is a reminder that they can be slow starters and it need not prove an impediment. Spain began in 2010 with a 1-0 defeat to Switzerland and still went on to win it. They were European champions then, too. Yet, if losing to Ottmar Hitzfeld's side was unexpected, being held by the archipelagic country off the coast of West Africa was astonishing.
