Spain Must Give Their Opponents Less Chances – Fernando Hierro

Spain coach Fernando Hierro and playmaker Isco agreed their team needed some serious “self-criticism” after La Roja qualified for the last 16 in a 2-2 draw with Morocco on Monday night.

A mistake between Andres Iniesta and Sergio Ramos allowed Morocco’s Khalid Boutaib to open the scoring on 14 minutes, with Iniesta making amends by teeing up Isco for an equaliser just five minutes later.

La Roja continued to mix some superb passing with sloppy defending, and substitute Youssef En-Nesyri headed Morocco ahead with nine minutes remaining, only for Spain replacement Iago Aspas to make it 2-2 in added time after the officials used VAR for confirmation.

Late drama in the other Group B match saw Iran equalise against Portugal, which saw Spain through as group winners to face Russia in Moscow in Sunday afternoon’s last-16 clash.

Speaking to Spanish TV station Telecinco after the final whistle, Hierro — appointed to the job just days before the tournament began — said his team was not on the right path and needed to improve, especially in defence.

“We knew these three games were going to demand a lot,” Hierro said. “After so much suffering, we must have some self-criticism. This is not the path to what we all want.

“We know we must not give up so many chances. All the good and bad things in the game were down to us. We must fix these details, as every chance they make is dangerous. We have a margin for improvement and will work on that these [coming] days. We know we can pose danger in attack, but we must do better defending counter-attacks.”

Hierro admitted that winning the group and getting what looks to be a more straightforward path through the knockout stages was a positive — but then slipped back into acknowledging that his team had plenty to improve if they wanted to go deep into the competition.