PRE MATCH | Attainable goal where living is mandatory
Located in the Norwegian archipelago of the Svalbard Islands and over the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, the town of Longyearbyen is famous for two reasons: being the headquarters of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which humanity can turn to in case of catastrophe, and because dying there is prohibited.
It's all due to the extreme cold, which prevents the decomposition of bodies. But the fact remains that this Sunday (starting at 8:45 PM on La1 live and with coverage through this official channel), Spain plays in the only country in the world where living is mandatory by legal imperative.
Click here to listen to the statements of manager Luis de la Fuente and player Unai Simón in the pre match interview.
They do so at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, about two thousand kilometers from the Peninsula (practically the same distance as Longyearbyen) and against a Norway for whom, laws aside, this match is indeed a matter of life or death.
Because Nyland's team, including ex-Real Madrid player Odegaard, Sorloth from Villarreal, or the global star Erling Haaland, only a victory tonight matters to keep their chances of reaching the Eurocopa alive, while the Spanish national team is one win away from achieving their objective.
Check Spain's squad numbers for this match.
Hence the clash of needs and anxieties that Luis de la Fuente and his team will have to manage in Nordic lands with a team on a high after conquering the Nations League in the summer, scoring relentless goals in September, and securing a crucial victory three days ago against Scotland, which, if they win today, could propel them to the top of their group.
For this, the manager has his 23 players performing at their best after dealing with the absences of Balde and Nico Williams in Seville, while Cordovan player Alfonso Pedraza could make his debut in Oslo as a full international.
German referee Tobias Stieler will officiate the match, assisted by his compatriots Christian Dietz and Mark Borsch on the sidelines.
The Spanish defense (no central pair since Ramos and Piqué have had more consecutive starts than Laporte and Le Normand) will be under scrutiny due to the quality of the opposing forwards, with Haaland, absent from the first leg match in Malaga, as the biggest but not the only threat. Therefore, De la Fuente has already announced that the response to the Nordic push will be a collective effort, not focused on a single player, reflecting the team spirit that has yielded many good results.
All of this to confirm the ticket to the Eurocopa this Sunday or at least have it practically sealed for November in this demanding qualification group with Scotland and Norway.
From there to the final stage in Germany, where unlike in Longyearbyen, whose laws paradoxically both prohibit dying and giving birth, they may witness the birth of a team with eternal ambition within this national team.
