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Your support makes all the difference.Fernando Hierro has been told he faces two decisions ahead of Spain’s second match of World Cup 2018, a meeting with Iran in Kazan on Wednesday.
The reality, however, is that neither should take more than a nanosecond of thought.
Those who watch David De Gea on a weekly basis would be utterly stunned at the prospect of dropping the Manchester United player of the year under any circumstances but there are calls in Spain for precisely that.
Indeed, one of the country’s best-known football columnists Alfredo Relaño this week wrote a scathing editorial in the newspaper AS, claiming De Gea had not “put any debates to bed… instead he is fuelling them.”
“Almost unanimously proclaimed Iker Casillas' heir, he's causing that status to teeter as the avoidable goals, whether crucial or not, begin to stack up.”
Being Casillas’ heir is quite significant in Madrid. Iker, the teenage star who would become champion of the world, is not just revered for his long career with the Spanish national team. He is acclaimed and adored far more significantly for his time with Real Madrid, the club of his boyhood and from whom he was heartlessly separated by Jose Mourinho when the Portuguese was waging institutional war within the marble corridors of the Santiago Bernabeu.
Casillas was never flawless but he always counted on the backing of the Madrid press - a shamelessly partisan, unapologetically vocal mass - because of his ties to the country’s biggest club. It is the sort of support that De Gea himself could have relied upon had a last-minute administrative breakdown not cost him a return to the Spanish capital. Now with his long-term future in Manchester and his errors not protected by the forcefield of Madridismo, the microscope is unforgiving.
Relaño referred to De Gea’s presence in the team as “an issue we’ve been tiptoeing around” that has “reared its ugly head again once and for all.”
It is fair to say that De Gea has probably made more mistakes in the last couple of years for Spain than he has for Manchester United but it has not been an enormous issue for this Spanish team who clearly don’t have an alternative of the same quality.
Pepe Reina, the former Liverpool goalkeeper, and Athletic Club’s Kepa - the shotstopper who Madrid turned to when they couldn’t get De Gea - are the potential beneficiaries of De Gea’s perceived struggles.
But Fernando Hierro, himself pressed into action when he least expected it, is unlikely to throw one of those back-ups into the fray off the back of an early mistake. He is being told there is a tough decision to make but there is no such dilemma. Hierro will stick with De Gea and he made that abundantly clear on Monday morning in Krasnodar despite the ever-growing divide in opinions within that press conference room.
“He’s one of us,” says Hierro.
“He’s not meriting his spot,” says Relaño.
It is a curious battle in the Spanish camp that, more than anything, underlines the intense glare these teams face during the World Cup. Picking over the displays of a proven world-class performer like De Gea brings to mind Confucius - “better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble with none” - but the Spanish press remain determined to throw rocks.
“He is calm now,” Hierro revealed on Monday. “They had a day off yesterday when he could relax his head a little. He needs to breathe.
“He has all our confidence. I know that footballers need that, and not only in the good times.”
Another decision on Hierro’s horizon is at right-back, where Dani Carvajal has recovered from an injury sustained in the Champions League final and is ready to take back his starting berth.
Nacho, whose stunning strike gave Spain a late lead during Friday’s Sochi thriller, counts on much support for his performance against the Portuguese but should not be indulged out of loyalty - he also gave away a penalty, we should remember.
A defender whose place in Spain and Madrid’s squads is earned principally through versatility and a willingness to take a back seat, Nacho is an understudy to Carvajal at club level and should return to that role on Wednesday.
It is not a decision that should take Hierro long to consider.
Neither is the one between the sticks.
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