Koke: “The strength of this team is the collective”

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The midfielder, one of the veterans of the Spanish team, faces his third World Cup after the uncertainty over his call-up due to an untimely muscle injury that is now in the past

One is already a veteran of the Spanish team, with command in place and stripes for Luis Enrique. Another, one of the youngsters with barely a tour for his first major national team tournament and with the illusion of the flag. Koke and Hugo Guillamón are the two sides of the coin in La Roja, the seniority and the youth with which Luis Enrique wants to take on the challenge of the World Cup in Qatar, which starts against Costa Rica on Wednesday, November 23, from his personal seal. .

The truth is that both the Atlético midfielder and the versatile Valencia player lived in uncertainty in the days before the Spanish coach’s list. The muscle injury of the former, which led him to accelerate the recovery periods to the maximum, and the competition in the defense in the case of the latter left his decisions in doubt until the last moment. That is why the illusion is reflected in the faces of the mattress maker and the Valencian player in the hours before the trip to Jordan, a stopover for the final pre-World Cup preparation test before disembarking in Qatar.

“A lot of things were running through my head, counting down the days until the World Cup starts. I did a lot of sessions to be able to arrive and be on the list if the coach wanted me to be called up,” recalled Koke about the uncertainty surrounding his call-up. He is a regular for Luis Enrique, but his physical condition has at times threatened the World Cup experience.

From his condition as a seasoned veteran, Koke optimistically analyzes the group of 26 footballers, aware of the absence of brilliant stars, but also certain of the chordal virtues over the individual ones. “The strength of this team has always been the collective. There are players of a high level but the strength is in the group. Of course there are competitions that can be won by individuals, but long championships are won by teams,” he defended in line with his coach’s usual speech.

There is no speculation in the Spanish dressing room about possible playoff matches based on group standings and the Spanish internationals prefer to play game by game, in line with the cholista philosophy that Koke has adopted so strongly at Atlético. «First we will play the match against Costa Rica and win. Our goal is to win all three games and not look at possible crosses,” he defended, despite the fact that a first place would lead Spain to meet the mighty Brazil in the quarter-finals if the ‘canarinha’ also beat the best of its cluster is.

Direct witness to the fiascos in the World Cups in Russia 2018 and Brazil 2014, Koke prefers to go one step at a time, although he also shows his chest for those teams that could not follow in the aftermath of the golden age. “Each group is different because of the personality of the different players. There were also good groups in Brazil and Russia,” he emphasized.

Compared to the two World Cups and the 67 international matches for Koke, Guillamón has barely three international matches for the Spanish national team. He is part of the new crop recruited by Luis Enrique to energize one of the youngest teams in the World Cup. “The elderly should help the young with these kinds of agreements. The more we are united, the easier it will be to get out of complicated situations,” defended the central midfielder, who took on the role of guide for the newcomers.

“Young people can provide that vitality and that desire to conquer the world,” says Guillamón, who still combines the ball and shoes with the complex manuals of Biomedical Engineering, the university course he combines with football. “I have always taken the university course normally, at home they have always taught me that I study alongside football and that I keep it up to date,” he explains, of course, as if it were simple, although he acknowledges that in Qatar those standing on the grass take precedence over banknotes.

The Valencia defender and midfielder also shows personality by taking on the weight of the number ’15’ with which Sergio Ramos made a legend in the Spanish team: «It’s a number that I like, that I contributed in my first year valencia. Sergio is a benchmark, I grew up paying attention to what he did. It was one of the last songs to choose and I stuck with it.

“I will try to add the position I have to play in and then the coach will decide,” he added in reference to his versatility, one of the virtues that tipped Luis Enrique’s balance in his favor. “It’s a way to get closer to the people and I think they’ll like it,” he concluded after the Spanish coach’s debut as a streamer, announcing details of the World Cup narrate. Cup from the inside through some direct.

Source: La Verdad

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