It was 2006, Luis Aragonés sat on the bench of the Spanish team. At that time, Luis was already planning to get a block of solid players whose mentality was going to change and he was going to make them a winning team. Which we saw two years later getting the second European Championship for Spain and laying the foundations of the most glorious generation of Spanish footballers in history. Spain until then, stood out more because it was not able to pass the quarterfinals, than because of its merits on the field.
The repechage system was introduced in 1978 and from then on the only time Spain had to go through it was on that occasion. Just like the situation that Spain has now, in the absence of two games she was not the leader of the group, but unlike now, she did not depend on herself.
The two games were away from home, which added an extra difficulty for the team, well, Spain was planted in Brussels to win 0-2 and days later in San Marino to win 0-6. But it was not enough. Group leaders Serbia played against Lithuania and Bosnia-Herzegovina and did not miss. He added the six possible points that he could add, so Spain had to go to the play-offs.
Slovakia was the rival of Spain. Luis Aragonés’s boys overwhelmed the Slovaks, leaving 5-1 to reach the final phase of the World Cup.
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