PREVIEW | Generations unite to break the jinx
No evil lasts a hundred years, although there are always exceptions. On 29 August 1920, more than a century ago, the Spanish national team played the second match in its history and since that day a curse seems to have been hanging over the country’s favourite team.
At the Olympic Stadium in Antwerp in the quarter-finals of the Games, on that day three goals by Belgian player Robert Coppee gave the hosts qualification for the semi-finals. Since then, Spain has still never beaten a host team in a major international tournament.
Today, 103 years, 9 months and 6 days later, Luis de la Fuente and his team can break the jinx in the duel between the two footballing kings of Europe, the only two countries to have won three continental titles and with the match are also played at the home of the first three-time European champions.
Click here to listen to what coach Luis de la Fuente and defender Dani Carvajal had to say ahead of the game.
Germany and Spain are looking to reach the semi-finals of the European Championships this Friday in Stuttgart (18:00 Spanish peninsular time live on La1 and with full coverage on this official webpage) in a match that not only brings together the two best teams in the history of the tournament, but also the two that are playing the most exciting attacking football at this current edition.
Both teams are still unbeaten, with the only draw for the home side coming after they had secured top spot in their group. Both sides can boast about having the most outstanding players, such as, in the case of the Germans, Stuttgart born Jamal Musiala, top scorer so far in the European Championships, the ever-green Toni Kroos or Neuer, Rüdiger, Havertz, Müller, Gündogan or the young talent Florian Wirtz.
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Faced with such a constellation of stars and the pressure of playing against the home team, Spain's team spirit is what has made them the darling of pundits and football fans alike. They go into the match with all 26 players at the coach's disposal and the form of their wingers catching people’s eye, the team will not be intimidated by the historic importance of the challenge.
Because since that summer in Antwerp, when it was the senior national teams that contested the Olympic Games, Spain have always been knocked out at the stage where they have come up against the hosts at World Cups (Italy 34, Brazil 50, Korea 2002 and Russia 2028) or European Championships (Italy 80, France 84, Germany 88, England 96 and Portugal 2004).
England's Anthony Taylor will referee the match, with Poland's Bartosz Frankowski acting as video assistant referee.
A spell to break the jinx by which all the previous generations of players have succumbed to is what all in Spain shirts will be conjuring up today for a match in which both the youngest player in history to represent our colours and the oldest to do so will be joining forces to make history.
The photograph of the intertwined hands of Lamine Yamal and Jesús Navas symbolises an alliance stronger than the forces of time. This Wednesday in Stuttgart calls for an assault on the semi-finals and to go for the fourth European Championships (#APorLaCuarta), breaking the spell in the way this team knows best: with the magic of their play.
