Spain eventually defend their tag of being billed pre-campaign favourites, even if they won’t have it all their own way in a tough away game against Ireland, and they will also have been disappointed to have let a two goal lead in Budapest slip. Apart from that, they were more or less invincible. At home their tally of 14 goals scored and none conceded was second to none, and the city of Seville once again proved to be the right place for la roja to show their colours.

Luis Suárez brought with him some of the players that he had had during his time as Under-21 coach, and he would often keep faith in a lot of the same players from one match to another. Three players, goalkeeper Zubizarreta, left back Jiménez and midfield ace Míchel, started all of their eight matches, with others featuring six and seven times. The manager brought back into contention right back Chendo for the final couple of matches, as Quique had been unavailable due to injury. There were even appearances on the subs’ bench for Tomás, the player who had featured at right back both in the ’86 World Cup and during the ’88 European Championships. Andrinúa and Sanchís were Suárez’ prefered centre back partnership, while he would also deploy tactics including a five man defence, which would see tough Bask defender Górriz added to the mix. There were also a couple of appearances for the unspectacular Serna, whilst Juanito had seemed very confident when given the chance for the final match against the Hungarians.

Midfield: Suárez would often prefer a central three with Míchel sitting deep behind Martín Vázquez and Roberto. However, this appeared to be a bit light weight in tough away fixtures, and they did not prove to be the right solution for the tie in Dublin. Against weaker opposition Míchel would revel in his deep role, conducting Spanish attacks from the back, but he was hardly a great tackler of the ball. And there were limitations to both Martín Vázquez’ and even Roberto’s defensive capabilities. A hard man in midfield, as so often before seen in the Spanish national team colours, seemed to be missing. Eusebio was seen coming on no less than five times during the campaign, but was hardly this physical presence in midfield. Luis Milla was given the opportunity in a deep role in the final match, but it was no proper test against beleaguered Hungarians. Fernando also took his opportunity well to shine in a fairly easy contest. As for wide players, Begiristain had played three times and done alright, whilst Villarroya got the final two matches against the Hungarians. He was probably a step down from the Barça man. Even Eloy was seen in a sole substitute appearance. On the opposite flank, it was often up to the right back to go forward. Manolo would also feature more or less as a right forward in Suárez’ 4-3-3, whereas a more conservative alternative could be often used substitute Eusebio. Martín Vázquez was also no stranger to either flank.

Up front Manolo proved to be a real find with his five goals in total, Spain’s (and the group’s!) leading scorer along with Míchel. Butragueño would be wearing the captain’s armband whenever he was playing, and seemed to enjoy a great deal of trust from the manager. They both started seven out of eight matches. Bakero and Salinas had one starting berth each, with neither totally convincing the boss, and surely the former less than the latter. In-form Pardeza got a few minutes in Budapest, and Sevilla’s Ramón had been seen in the opening tie against the Irish appearing from the bench.

Spain had a high top level, but the manager would need to identify a solid defensive midfielder who could do the dirty work in front of his central defenders when in muddy waters. With the average age quite low, there did appear to be a lot of potential for further development, so Spain would be going to the World Cup as one of the rank outsiders.

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Spain	8	6	1	1	20	3	13
2	Rep. of Ireland	8	5	2	1	10	2	12
3	Hungary	8	2	4	2	8	12	8
4	N. Ireland	8	2	1	5	6	12	5
5	Malta	8	0	2	6	3	18	2

Player statistics

Number of players used: 26
Number of players including unused substitutes: 32
Ever-presents (720 mins): 2 (Zubizarreta and Jiménez)
Leading goalscorer: Míchel and Manolo (both 5)
Yellow/red cards: 5/1

– Overview

Player	Apps	XI	Sub	UnSub	Mins	Gls	Y/R
Jiménez, Manuel	8	8			720
Zubizarreta, Andoni	8	8			720
Míchel	8	8			696	5(3)
Roberto	7	7			630	1	2/0
Martín Vázquez, Rafael	7	7			609
Butragueño, Emilio	7	7			597	3
Manolo	8	7	1		581	5
Andrinúa, Genar	6	6		1	540	1
Sanchís, Manuel	6	6			524		1/1
Górriz, Alberto	5	4	1	1	373
Quique	5	5			425
Chendo, Miguel	3	3		2	220
Serna, Ricardo	3	2	1	1	205
Beguiristain, Txiki	3	3		1	201	1
Villarroya	2	2			180
Eusebio	5		5		138
Salinas, Julio	4	1	3	2	124	1	1/0
Fernando	1	1			90	1
Juanito	1	1			90	1
Milla, Luis	1	1			90
Bakero, José Mari	1	1			78		1/0
Pardeza, Miguel	1		1		22
Eloy	1		1		21
Ramón	1		1	2	21
Solana, Jesús Angel	1		1		5
Hierro, Fernando	1		1	2	4
Ablanedo, José Luis				3
Biurrun, Vicente				2
Felipe Miñambres				1
Ferreira, Patxi				1
Ochotorena, José				3
Tomás				2

– Game by game

Player	Ire (h)	NIR (h)	Mal (a)	NIR (a)	Mal (h)	Ire (a)	Hun (a)	Hun (h)	Apps	Mins
Zubizarreta	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	8	720
Quique	85	90	90		90	70			5	425
Jiménez	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	8	720
Andrinúa	90	90	90	90	90		90	R	6	540
Sanchís	90		74 (s.o.)		90	90	90	90	6	524
Górriz	90	90	13	90	R	90			4+1	373
Manolo	69	78	90	12	90	90	86	66	7+1	581
Míchel	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	66	8	696
Butragueño	90	90	77	90	90	70		90	7	597
Roberto	90	90	90	90	90	90	90		7	630
Vázquez	90	90	90	90	69	90	90		7	609
Ramón	21	R					R		+1	21
Solana	5								+1	5
Ferreira	R
Begiristain	R	65	67		69				3	201
Ablanedo	R	R	R
Serna		25	R	90		90			2+1	205
Salinas		12	R	R		20	68	24	1+3	124
Chendo		R		40		R	90	90	3	220
Eusebio			23	50	21	20		24	+5	138
Bakero				78					1	78
Biurrun				R	R
Hierro				R		R	4		+1	4
Eloy					21				+1	21
Miñambres					R
Ochotorena						R	R	R
Villarroya							90	90	2	180
Pardeza							22		+1	22
Juanito								90	1	90
Milla								90	1	90
Fernando								90	1	90
Tomás							R	R

– Ratings

Pos	Player	Average rating	Number of rated games
1	Míchel	7,26	8
2	Vázquez	7,11	7
3	Manolo	7,10	7
4	Andrinúa	7,10	6
5	Butragueño	6,94	7
6	Górriz	6,92	4
7	Quique	6,86	5
8	Sanchís	6,85	6
9	Jiménez	6,83	8
10	Roberto	6,82	7
11	Zubizarreta	6,73	8

Explanation to table: Number of rated games: 8. A player must have been given a rating in half or more of the games in order to feature

Post-qualification

Friendly
13.12.1989 Spain 2-1 Switzerland
Goals: Míchel (pen.), Felipe
Line-up: Zubizarreta – Chendo, Andrinúa (Luis Manuel 64), Sanchís (Ferreira 49), Jiménez (Tomás 47) – Míchel, Milla (Moya 63), Martín Vázquez, Villarroya – Manolo (Felipe 49), Butragueño (c)

Friendly
21.02.1990 Spain 1-0 Czechoslovakia
Goal: Manolo
Line-up: Zubizarreta – Chendo, Andrinúa (Juanito 62), Sanchís, Górriz – Míchel (Rafa Paz 62), Roberto (Milla 53), Martín Vázquez, Villarroya – Manolo (Julio Salinas 79), Butragueño (c) (Pardeza 62)

Friendly
28.03.1990 Spain 2-3 Austria
Goals: Manolo, Butragueño
Line-up: Zubizarreta – Chendo (Quique 56), Andrinúa, Sanchís, Jiménez – Míchel, Roberto (Górriz 56), Martín Vázquez (Rafa Paz 56), Villarroya – Manolo (Julio Salinas 70), Butragueño (c) (Pardeza 38)

Friendly
26.05.1990 Yugoslavia 0-1 Spain
Goal: Butragueño
Line-up: Zubizarreta – Chendo (Alkorta 80), Andrinúa, Sanchís (Górriz 64), Jiménez – Míchel, Roberto, Martín Vázquez, Villarroya (Rafa Paz 64) – Manolo (Pardeza 80), Butragueño (c) (Fernando 88)