Madrid, Oct 16 (IANS) Spain coach Vicente del Bosque was understandably a happy man after leading his side to the 2014 World Cup finals with an easy 2-0 victory over Georgia.
Although they needed just a point from their home game against Georgia in order to book a ticket for Brazil next summer, goals from Alvaro Negredo and Juan Mata saw the Spanish team to a comfortable win, reports Xinhua.
“It’s practically routine for us because we keep on qualifying for tournaments but we have to remember that it’s an important success for the federation, because Spain were qualifying for tournaments long before me and my team arrived,” said Del Bosque.
Spain have qualified for Brazil by dropping just four points in draws at home to Finland and France, but Del Bosque insisted that despite it being routine reaching major finals, his side had been forced to work hard.
“It hasn’t been easy, we had problems against smaller teams and we competed with a very good French side to finish top of our group. However, we have been able to qualify and we have done so with austerity and moderation,” he said.
Negredo’s second goal in two games came at a time when there is a debate over whether Spain should nationalise Atletico Madrid’s Brazilian born forward, Diego Costa, who is currently the top scorer in the Spanish Primera Liga.
Del Bosque has already said Spain are interested in Costa, but said there should be more to come from Negredo.
“He is a striker who doesn’t play as well as his ability permits. He still hasn’t discovered his full potential,” said the coach, who again discussed Costa after this week the Brazilian Football Federation said they wanted to count on the player who has already played a friendly game for the country of his birth.
“We’ve already spoken with him, but we won’t prevent him from playing for the country he wants to play for. He feels Spanish as well as Brazilian,” he commented.