MADRID, 17 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Under-21 team will put an end to the year 2022 with a friendly this Friday at the La Cartuja Stadium in Seville (8:00 p.m.) against an important and competitive rival in this category such as Japan, but also from good memories for the national coach Luis de la Fuente for what happened at the Olympic Games.
Before the two senior teams from both countries meet on December 1 at the World Cup in Qatar, it will be the turn of their Under-21s, where they will test the strength of their good work with grassroots football.
And it is that both Spain and Japan are very committed to young talent and promise to give a competitive show on the pitch of La Cartuja, where Luis de la Fuente’s team hopes to close 2022 with a new victory, the sixth in a row. For their part, the Japanese once again face a rival from the Old Continent after drawing against Italy (1-1) and losing to Switzerland (2-1) in September.
“I expect a nice match and where we live up to the demands that Japan is going to set, which will be very high because they are a very good team and it will require us to bring out the best we have to give the fans a great show,” he warned. the man from La Rioja in the previous press conference.
The man from Haro is clear that they want to end the year undefeated “with another victory.” “We want to leave a good taste in our mouths so that when we meet again in March all this work will serve to consolidate a very nice project. We are very excited to compete in Europe,” he said.
Spain and Japan have never met in this category, but they can go back to last year to see a duel with a certain similarity, even if none of the protagonists are in the ‘Rojita’. The two countries met in a friendly before Tokyo 2020, ending 1-1, and then in the Olympic semifinals, decided by a goal in extra time by Marco Asensio.
Facing this last meeting of 2022, De la Fuente has somewhat renewed his most usual list, since he has decided not to have those players who are in LaLiga SmartBank teams, who do not stop for the Qatar World Cup, such as José Gragera ( Sporting) or Alberto Moleiro (UD Las Palmas). He still has a lot of potential with Abel Ruiz, Bryan Gil, Rodrigo Riquelme, Alejandro Balde or Rodrigo Riquelme.
This has opened the door for Luis de la Fuente to summon new talents from the Spanish academy, such as José Ángel Carmona from Sevilla, Gabi Veiga from Celtic and Pablo Torre from Blaugrana. “I would like the new players to debut, but we’ll see how the game develops,” warned the coach.
