© EuroFootball.com
On Wednesday, in a friendly match at home, losing 0-1 to the Romanians, members of the Spanish national team experienced the worst - they were booed by their own fans.
After the match, coach Luis Aragones, whose position has been very unstable lately, was confused and struggled to find excuses for the defeat.
In the Wednesday match, L. Aragones put an experimental lineup on the field, including three players making their debut for the Spanish national team, but the only goal by Romanian forward Ciprian Marica meant that the team from the Iberian Peninsula suffered their third defeat in the last four matches.
"I think the first half was one of the best that the Spanish national team has played. However, when you lose, you can't be satisfied," said the coach. "We dominated at first, created many chances, but their goal stunned us. Then they looked stronger. If you don't score in football, that's how it ends."
In the first half of the match, the Spanish national team, which recently suffered defeats to Northern Ireland and Sweden in the European Championship qualifiers, demonstrated high-level football, playing fast football with short, sharp, and most importantly, accurate passes.
One of the debutants, young "Valencia" star and former leader of the Spanish youth national team David Silva, was arguably the best player on the field, but Spain was haunted by long-standing problems - despite dominating the field, they couldn't convert it into goals, and they conceded an own goal after a counterattack.
"This series of matches frightens me. No international match is just 'friendly'," added L. Aragones.
The Spanish press didn't spare criticism for the national team and especially their head coach. The sports newspaper "AS" declared it a "complete tragedy", while "El Mundo" headline read something like "Spanish national team - failures".
In Barcelona, "El Mundo Deportivo" called the match a "terrible experiment" and added that the team lacks finishing power.
L. Aragones will now have four months to draw conclusions. Then, in March, they will continue the qualifications for the 2008 European Championship, facing Denmark and Iceland as Spain's opponents.
