La Roja holding out for a hero

Spain’s bid to return to the peak of international football begins in La Roja’s first Euro 2016 qualifier at home to Macedonia tonight.

But finding a striker who can score some goals is La Roja’s first issue to confront.

Following the disastrous showing at the summer’s World Cup, where the defending champions were embarrassingly the first team sent home in the group stages, coach Vicente Del Bosque has kept his job, but knows things will have to change.

“Now it is not about making a revolution, but we are obliged to make a transition,” said Del Bosque. This ‘transition’ saw a much-changed team start their friendly defeat to France in Paris last Thursday, with a number of previous all-conquering stars, including record goalscorer David Villa, retired. Del Bosque gave debuts to four players and eight of the side that finished the game had less than 12 caps.

It was not a huge surprise, then, when a more experienced France team, were deserved 1-0 winners. The biggest issue for La Roja was in front of goal, with Spain not registering a shot on target, the first time that had happened for 24 years.

Chelsea’s summer signing Diego Costa took the brunt of the criticism. Brazil-born Costa has played five times for his adopted country, without scoring, and looks unsuited to the tiki-taka style. Del Bosque said other players must get used to Costa’s more direct style, not vice-versa.

“Costa has shown what he is capable of, now we need to connect with him, to understand him. We will improve.”

Costa returned to Chelsea on Friday due to injury, leaving Spain with no experienced centre-forwards for tonight’s game. So Valencia youngster Paco Alcacer now looks set to start at Levante’s Ciutat de Valencia stadium. Should he struggle tonight then the even younger Munir El-Haddadi could make his debut from the bench, with the Barcelona starlet called up from the U21s to take Costa’s place in the squad.

Starting tonight, Group B, which also includes Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus and Luxembourg, should give plenty of opportunities for Spain to transition new players into the team ahead of Euro 2016.

Which is good because Del Bosque really needs a new first-choice front man.