Spain came away from their first World Cup match against Costa Rica brimming with confidence after their largest ever World Cup victory.
Speaking after the match, Luis Enrique could not deny that he was fairly happy with the result.
“The truth is that yes, I was warning you of it in these past weeks. When things come off, football becomes a wonderful sport, we were in control of the game at all times, which was the objective, against a tough opponent that we knew was going to cause problems.”
“But we were exceptional in handling the ball, in finishing. True to the same idea that has accompanied the national team for years.”
The Asturian made the comments to Mundo Deportivo, but was wary of getting too comfortable. Many would call it the best performance of the tournament so far and will now be marking them out as one of the teams to beat.
“We are the first to start training tomorrow to prepare for the game in Germany. Praise weakens you, we know that, and we are not going to fall into that trap. The idea is to always play like this, but we are not going to always win by a landslide. Anyone who understands football can see that we are a difficult rival.”
Costa Rica did not show a great a deal of attrition, there was little doubt about that with some describing it as a training match for La Roja.
However Luis Enrique’s side were forecasted by many to struggle against Los Ticos, as they have traditionally found deep-lying teams difficult to break down.
Spain will have a stronger idea of where they are in terms of level on Sunday, after they face a wounded German side. Die Mannschaft know that defeat will see them likely exit the competition and will throw everything they can at the match.
