Coach Luis de la Fuente delighted with Spain’s ‘exceptional’ progress after Euro 2024 qualification

OSLO – Spain have shown “exceptional” growth in recent months, coach Luis de la Fuente said after his side’s 1-0 Group A win over Norway on Sunday secured qualification for Euro 2024 in Germany.

Barcelona midfielder Gavi scored the only goal early in the second half in Oslo, bouncing a shot into the corner.

After a last-16 exit at the World Cup in Qatar, which resulted in Luis Enrique’s dismissal, Spain were beaten 2-0 by Scotland in March, leading to questions over de la Fuente’s future despite it being just his second game in charge.

However, since that defeat, Spain have won four straight qualifying matches, scoring 16 goals and keeping clean sheets in their last three games. They also won the Nations League in June.

“I’m happy because I think the team have grown in an exceptional way. There is a feeling of a united team, a cohesive team, a team for the future, which is what excites us the most,” said de la Fuente.

“Learning is constant. You learn a lot from the not-so-good situations and from good ones too. But we were sure, we haven’t gone too far off script. By that, I mean we’ve corrected what needed changing and we understood what had to change.”

Defender Dani Carvajal said it was “never easy” to qualify for the Euro, adding: “Especially this time, after that defeat in Scotland, because we also had a new coach and suddenly many people from the outside started doubting us.

“But we managed to recover from that and step up.”

Spain’s win also sealed the Scots’ Euro spot with two games to spare.

Scotland have qualified for back-to-back European Championship Finals for just the second time, after they played in the 1992 and 1996 editions of the tournament.

“I would like to congratulate the players for their efforts in qualifying for back-to-back tournaments,” manager Steve Clarke said.

“I’m not sure they will fully realise the significance of their achievement yet but to qualify for successive Euros after more than 20 years is phenomenal and testament to their hard work.

“I said after Euro 2020 (group-stage exit) that we wanted to be serial qualifiers again and reaching successive Euro Finals shows the progress we’ve made.”

Captain Andy Robertson, who left the national team’s camp midway through the international break after picking up a shoulder injury during last Thursday’s 2-0 defeat by Spain, said it was “mission accomplished”.

“Euro 2020 was a great experience and the objective for us next summer is to build on that previous experience and improve on our last overall tournament performance,” the defender added.

Norway have not qualified for a major competition since Euro 2000, but a team featuring Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard still have hope of advancing to the play-offs. Georgia thrashed Cyprus 4-0 in the other group game.

Odegaard told TV2: “We had great faith that we would qualify from this group. My honest opinion is that we have never been better. I definitely feel we are on the right track, but it’s not good enough when we don’t make it.”

Turkey also joined the growing ranks of qualifiers on Sunday.

They capped off a momentous week in which they were announced as co-hosts of Euro 2032 with Italy, by turning on the style in the closing minutes to beat Latvia 4-0 and book their Finals place.

Yunus Akgun broke the deadlock just before the hour and Cenk Tosun grabbed two late goals either side of a Kerem Akturkoglu strike to complete the victory for the Group D leaders.

Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella told Uefa’s website: “I am perhaps the happiest coach in the world right now. That’s why I’ll enjoy it first, and then we’ll continue our preparations immediately.”
REUTERS, AFP