Scotland erases Spain (2-0)

Scotland erases Spain (2-0)

Scotland toppled Spain with two goals from McTominay that came with almost perfect symmetry. One at the beginning of each half and after an error by the Spanish right-back, who was first Pedro Porro and then Carvajal.

The first seemed like an accident, a bloody coincidence that came after Pedro Porro slipped on the edge of the area and put the ball at Robertson's feet, who only had to look back to see that McTominay was ready to score the first. Everything went wrong on that play. Porro made a misconception trying to dribble towards his goal and McTominay's shot then bounced off a defender to mislead Kepa.

The second already confirmed the disaster after a loss of the ball from Carvajal, who also did not know how to contain Tierney's run. McTominay was more awake than anyone to collect the rejection and push the second goal.

That second goal ended up collapsing Spain, which did not know how to react with forty minutes to go. He had control of the ball, but he didn't know how to manage it and he barely created any danger from Rodri's distant shot with his left foot.

The captain took over after the first goal, teamed up with Ceballos and between the two of them brought Spain closer to a draw that never came. La Roja, which was again from head to toe as in the World Cup, circulated the ball on the ground, but the chances came from above, as if there were activated plan B before plan A. It went well in the last minutes against Norway, when the two goals came from Joselu and at the head of the Espanyol forward his teammates directed the balls in search of equalizing the one of the Scots on the scoreboard.

It was close. The first header sent it into the hands of the goalkeeper and the second already hit the crossbar. Rodri also tried from a set piece, but his header went over the crossbar. All this happened in the first part, when Spain still felt capable of equalizing the game. Even Pedro Porro was encouraged to shoot from outside the area.

But the goal did not come and when McTominay scored the second, the Red fell apart completely. There was no response in the head or legs. And the reaction did not come from the bench either. Nico Williams, who had entered the break for Oyarzabal, tried to unbalance on the right side, but his overflow attempts came to nothing.

De la Fuente replaced Joselu in the area, but the problem was not the striker who was waiting for the shot. Spain was not right on the road and neither was it in the auction. Nor did Iago Aspas provide solutions that would lead Spain to the goal of the Scots.

It could have been worse if Scotland had been successful with their counterattacks at the end of each half. The symmetry of the party went as far as that. Dykes did not know how to finish off the counterattack with which the first half ended. With Spain overturned, a long ball from the Scots surprised the defense but the striker was unable to resolve the one-on-one with Kepa.

The Spanish goalkeeper had to catch Shankland's shot late in the second half. But before he had already seen how the crossbar saved him from the third in a free kick launched by McGinn from the right side.

The eight changes of Luis de la Fuente in the lineup, including the four defenders, did not help to find references on the field either. The first stumble comes too soon for the new coach.