4 Takeaways From Spain’s Spiritless Win vs. Uruguay To Clinch Group H

Spain came to Guadalajara needing a point and left with first place, the comfort of a No. 1 seed, and very little else to brag about. They had 68% of the ball and exactly one shot on target all night. That shot was a tame Álex Baena effort that Fernando Muslera somehow shoveled over his own line. A win is a win. This one came with an asterisk and a thank-you note to the goalkeeper. Here are my takeaways from Spain’s 1-0 win over Uruguay: 1. Spain Is Through. The Swagger Stayed Home. Top of Group H: Seven points, plus-five goal difference, and a tournament that reads: flat draw with Cape Verde, 4-0 rout of Saudi Arabia, one-shot grind past Uruguay. One of those is not like the others. Lamine Yamal is fit and starting again, but the excitement everyone was gushing about pre-tournament hasn’t arrived. Spain is advancing on reputation, 68% possession, and a goalkeeper’s mistake. That’s not going to make the Spanish fans salivate. It’s also not the relentless machine we were promised. Other favorites have already found a second gear. Spain is still hunting for first. The talent is obvious, so maybe this is a slow build, and the switch flips in the knockouts. Or maybe it’s the early warning that the best version of this team isn’t coming. Either way, they need to get their act together fast, or it’ll be a long trip back across the pond for one of the bookies’ favorites. 2. Bielsa’s Benching of Valverde Is Unforgivable Uruguay is going home. Third in the group, two points, not a single win to point to across three games. For a two-time world champion, that’s a second straight group-stage exit, and this one was supposed to be different. Marcelo Bielsa, a favorite amongst matcha latte-drinking Twitter tactico hipsters, was supposed to be the fix. Instead, just before the hour, with his team needing a goal to survive, he inexplicably pulled Federico Valverde. His best midfielder. One of the best on the planet, actually. The same Valverde who reportedly led the questioning of Bielsa’s tactics earlier in the week. Don’t call it bold. You can call it a manager settling a score on the way out the door; what you can’t call it is a survival plan. Taking off your best player when you desperately need a result is absolutely ludicrous. It reeks of self-sabotage. When the move you make to save your World Cup is benching Valverde, the World Cup was already gone. 3. Spain’s Turbochargers Are Both Idling Here’s the uncomfortable bit for Luis de la Fuente. Lamine Yamal played 76 minutes and flickered. A clever ball to Dani Olmo, a couple of dribbles, but not the teenager who bends matches to his will. And Nico Williams? Tipped to make his first start of the tournament, he didn’t, again, and only jogged on for the final 15 minutes with the game already parked. Spain is winning without their two most dangerous wingers anywhere near top gear. Sounds like a luxury. It’s the worry. In the knockouts, a deep back four will dare Spain to break it down, and 68% possession won’t pick a lock by itself. Especially since the lone striker, Mikel Oyarzabal, is hardly a target man to cross the ball to. They’ll need Yamal ruthless and Williams flying. Tonight, both were simply on the field. Spain doesn’t need them present. They need them lethal. 4. The Fouls Weren’t the Cause of Death. They Were the Autopsy. Easy to pin Uruguay’s exit on indiscipline. Twenty-eight fouls in the match, cards piling up, Agustín Canobbio sent off at the death for scything down Pau Cubarsí as tempers finally boiled over. Bielsa had already hooked goalkeeper Muslera at halftime after his howler, a call that looked brutal towards the Uruguayan veteran. Then the Valverde sub. Then a touchline scuffle. It looked like a team coming apart because it was. But the chaos didn’t cost Uruguay this tournament. The chaos was the tournament, a squad that by every report dragged its dressing-room toxicity onto the grass weeks ago. The red card and the flying legs weren’t a side clawing to stay alive. They were a side that had quit believing, swinging on the way down. Bielsa owes some answers. Start with the big one: when exactly did he lose them?