World Cup winner Spain could secure a place in the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals on Tuesday with a win over Croatia in Split
MADRID — World Cup winner Spain could secure a place in the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals on Tuesday with a win over Croatia in Split.
Spain travel to Croatia after three consecutive wins in their opening group games. Another victory would give the world champions 12 points from four matches while leaving Croatia on three.
If England also win or draw at home to the Czech Republic, neither Croatia nor the Czechs would be able to catch Spain, assuring Luis de la Fuente's side of a top-two finish with two games remaining, at home to England and away to the Czech Republic in November.
While Spain travel with a perfect record, Slaven Bilic's Croatia go into the match looking to respond to arguably the most humiliating defeat in their history, a 7-0 home defeat to England on Saturday.
"Against England, we didn't bring the necessary energy, which affects confidence; confidence affects technical performance, and in the end, it all looks like a question of willpower. Now we have to play a good match, a match for real men, against Spain," Bilic said, suggesting Spain could face a physical contest.
Spain beat Croatia 4-1 in Seville just a week ago and followed that with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday, although their performance in Oviedo was arguably their least impressive of the three games so far during the international break.
De la Fuente made nine changes from the team that faced Croatia and is expected to continue rotating his squad, particularly after highlighting the limited recovery time available to his players during the international break.
"We will get back to Madrid at 3 a.m., then we have one day to train on Sunday, before travelling on Monday and playing on Tuesday," said De la Fuente, who has already seen five players leave his squad with injuries over the past two weeks.
Midfielder Fabian Ruiz also left the squad at the weekend for a happier reason, becoming a father for the first time. His absence could see Mikel Merino return to the starting lineup.
Lamine Yamal is expected to start after an outstanding run of form in which he has scored early goals in all three of Spain's Nations League matches. The Barcelona forward was substituted in the second half against the Czech Republic, leaving him fresher for Tuesday's game.