France against Spain, big names against Enrique’s style. Who will dominate the Nations League?

Already on Sunday at 20:45 a very interesting duel between France and Spain will take place in the final of the Nations League. Didier Deschamps’ team relies on the great individual quality of its players, while Luis Enrique relies on teamwork and system. Who will be more successful?

Spain reached the final with a 2-1 win over Italy, with Ferran Torres scoring twice. The 2010 world champions also broke Italy’s 37-game winning streak.

France’s road to the last match was a bit more thorny. Against Belgium, however, they took advantage of the famous “Csaplár trap” and managed to turn the half-time score of 0:2 into 3:2.

Although these are two of the strongest national teams, the two teams are completely different. As well as the atmosphere and confidence in their respective countries.

In Spain, there was a bit of a lull after the golden years of 2008-2012. La Furia Roja ruled the world back then, dominating the European Championships twice and the World Cup once in four years. There was simply no one to match the tiki-taka style of the time.

But time passes and David Villa, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Fernando Torres, Iker Casillas or Carles Puyol are no longer in the team. So Spain have to find a new face and that is quite difficult. Luis Enrique regularly receives a lot of criticism for his nominations, many believe this is the weakest Spanish national team in history.

Just look at the line-up, if you don’t follow the Spanish league you may not even know a few players.

Simon, Azpilicueta, Pau Torres, Laporte, Alonso, Gavi, Koke, Busquets, Oyarzabal, F. Torres, Sarabia. Bryan Gil, Mikel Merino, Yeremi Pino and Sergi Roberto came off the bench. With a few exceptions, these really aren’t star names.

Although Enrique’s style is often very unwatchable, for which he is much criticized in Spain, he has had his successes. He reached the semi-finals at the Euros, where he went out to Italy on penalties. At the time it looked like La Roja would struggle to advance out of the group at all, after two dull performances and draws they had only two points and had to beat Slovakia.

But this seemed to mark Enrique’s Spain out. Before the Nations League, the coach was much criticised for his selection, almost nobody trusted him. But he managed to beat the European champions and is in the final.

So Spain is looking for its face, but for now it is in labour pains. Enriqué wants to build a team for the future, which is why youngsters such as 17-year-old Gavi, 18-year-old Pino and 20-year-old Gil are being given opportunities. At the Euros, 18-year-old Pedri, who is currently injured, was the main figure for the Spaniards.

France, on the other hand, is a completely different story. The 2018 world champions let their country down at this summer’s Euros when they crashed out in the eighth round against Switzerland. However, confidence in the star-studded squad is still high, not to mention when Didier Deschamps can rely on several world stars.

For France’s attacking trident, the clash with Spain is rather spicy. Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann have been playing in La Liga for many years, Kylian Mbappé is apparently headed to Real Madrid as well.

The French also admire Paul Pogba, Raphaël Varane and Ngol Kanté, but he is absent from this reunion because of Covid. Deschamps has a huge attacking force at his disposal, but he relies on the individual quality of the superstars rather than a workable playing style.

A duel of completely different units offers a really interesting spectacle, it will be interesting to see if the French stars can cope with Spain’s sophisticated system.

Source: Livesport