Spain faces Ukraine in the second qualifying match for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, where they want to defend the crown won in 2023. The stage will be the Antalyaspor stadium, in Antalya, Turkey, which initially caused concern among the soccer players, who even considered not attending the event, but in the end it only ended with the trip being delayed one day.
The reason, the war in Iran has caused a lot of instability in the area and last Wednesday NATO defense systems had to shoot down a ballistic missile that was aimed at Türkiye. This situation made the soccer players consider not traveling to Antalya, where they have to face Ukraine, which, precisely, has to play outside their country due to the war and invasion of Russia that they have suffered since 2022.
That projectile “was heading into its airspace” after flying over Iraq and Syriain the first incident of this type since the war in the Middle East began on February 28 due to an offensive launched by the United States and Israel against the Iranian State.
The National Team will finally travel to Türkiye
Finally, the entire Spanish delegation traveled to Antalya on Friday, one day before having to face Ukraine. This decision was made after a long meeting this Thursday between the president of the RFEF, Rafael Louzán, with the Spanish players and the entire coaching staff to assess UEFA’s response to the request that the crash be postponed for safety reasons.
The highest body of European football warned the Spanish team that they would consider the match lost and that they would face possible sanctions if they decided not to appear in the match against the Ukrainians, since they consider that There is no danger in the area for the soccer players and that there are no problems for your safety.
Likewise, the Spanish Football Players Association was against Spain traveling to Türkiye. “AFE wants to publicly express its strong opposition to the players of the Spanish Soccer Team traveling to Turkey to play the 2027 World Cup qualifying match against Ukraine.”
Spain wants to consolidate its good start to Brazil 2027
With Spain already in Turkey and the doubt cleared up about whether or not it was finally going to travel to Antalya, now, the priority is to add the three points to consolidate the good start to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil after the victory in the first match achieved against Iceland.
The National Team is second in group A3, with the same points as England (3)with whom he will fight for the leadership. The English beat Ukraine by a resounding 6-1, a victory that put them ahead.
In principle, Spain should have no problems doing the same as the English, so the victory against the Ukrainians is the main objective and, the more goals, the better. With the face shown last Tuesday against Iceland, the Eastern European team’s options are not going to be many.
Sonia Bermúdez will not be able to count on for this match the presence of Aira Agirrezabalawho had to abandon the concentration due to discomfort in his left adductor. Removing that setback, the coach will be able to count on the rest of the team.
The ‘eleven’ that the coach of the Spanish team took against the Icelanders could be very similar to the one I put in from the beginning in Antalyawhere Claudia Pina shone above the rest, scoring two of the team’s three goals.
