World European Preliminaries-Spain VS Georgia: Yamal is injured, Wu Lei’s former teammate is selected

After winning the 2024 European Cup with an unbeatable record, Spain, which has been in the doldrums for three World Cups, is naturally regarded as one of the favorites to win the 2026 World Cup.

Some people think that the Matadors may be overrated, but at least they will not worry like Italy about not being able to enter the World Cup, nor will they worry like Germany about whether they can qualify from the group after entering the World Cup.

In the 2024 European Cup, Georgia achieved their first trip to the competition, and their performance was quite amazing. So, when will the first World Cup trip arrive?

Spain VS Georgia

Nature of the match: Round 3 of Group E of the World Cup European Group Stage

Match time: October 12, 2:45

After the first 2 rounds of Group E, Spain leads with 6 points with 2 wins from 2 games. Georgia ranks second with 3 points from 2 games with 1 win and 1 loss. Turkey also has 3 points with 1 win and 1 loss from 2 games. It ranks third due to goal difference disadvantage. Bulgaria has lost 2 games with 0 points and is at the bottom.

Recently, injuries have plagued Barcelona, ​​​​and also the Spanish national team.

According to the Spanish media "World Sports", Olmo has withdrawn from the Spanish national team training camp due to injury. He has severe discomfort in the soleus muscle of his left leg. He may not be able to make it to Barcelona's away game against Real Madrid in the 10th round of La Liga's El Clasico.

Barcelona and Spain’s number one star Yamal are also absent due to injuries. There is currently a lot of controversy. As Spanish national team coach De La Fuente continues to recruit Yamal, there is a certain degree of dissatisfaction among Barcelona fans. They are worried that this player will be over-used and face the risk of injury like some other players, probably the same as the young Spanish nationals Fati, Pedri, and Garvey in the previous Barcelona team.

De La Fuente made it clear that he had no ill intentions to consume players and was not targeting any club. However, when he asked the Barcelona coach to understand him, former Barcelona executive Freixia raised questions, "When De La Fuente said that Flick must put himself in his shoes, I thought it was funny, because Flick was the national team coach, so he understands De La Fuente should be understood. Yes, I will tell him that Flick can indeed do this, but the person who certainly cannot put himself in Flick's shoes is precisely De La Fuente. He has never coached any club and has no idea what a club coach thinks. "

Yamal's injury also gave Wu Lei's former teammate, 32-year-old Iglesias, a chance. Iglesias did not expect to be called up to the Spanish national team again after two and a half years. Wu Lei joined Espanyol in January 2019, while Iglesias played for Espanyol in the 2018-19 season.

Spain is currently ranked No. 1 in the world by FIFA. The total value of the team is as high as 996 million euros. Yamal, who is worth 200 million euros, did not come this time due to injury.

Georgia's FIFA ranking is 68th in the world. The total value of the team is 205 million euros, and top star Kvaratshelia accounts for nearly half.

It can be seen that the strength of the two teams is very different.

Spain is undefeated in the past 10 games in all competitions with 7 wins and 3 draws.

Georgia has 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses in the past 10 games in all competitions.

In the past 8 encounters between the two sides, Spain has the upper hand with 7 wins and 1 loss. The only loss was a friendly match in 2016. The most recent confrontation between the two sides was in the 1/8 finals of the European Cup in 2014. Although they lost 1:4, Georgia scored one goal ahead.

In this battle, Spain, playing at home, should win without any suspense.