Spain strolls through Bulgaria before starting its (real) World Cup bid against Türkiye.

If you haven't been paying close attention to the national team this summer (normally), here's how it is: the qualifying matches for next year's World Cup (which will be played in Mexico, the United States, and Canada between mid-June and mid-July) have begun. The national team has been drawn into a group of four where it will compete against Bulgaria , which is this Thursday's match, Turkey , which is on Sunday, and Georgia . And, to make a long story short, it has already been confirmed that the only spot (the first one) that grants a ticket to the World Cup will be played by Spain against Turkey. There's no need to panic, because even if they don't win the group, the team is guaranteed a place in the playoffs. In short, Spain swept aside Bulgaria , their weakest opponent, and today travels to Konya , the Turkish city where a good part of their chances will be played on Sunday. Then, in October, they will play at home against Bulgaria and Georgia. And in November, this phase will conclude with a trip to Tbilisi (Georgia) and a host of Turkey .

Now that we're all up to date, it's also worth mentioning that there was a lot of speculation in the hours leading up to the match about how De la Fuente would approach the game, considering they're two matches back-to-back and the second, the day after tomorrow, is against the toughest opponent, the real one. Whether the toughest center-back ( Le Normand ) would be available on Sunday; whether one of the two injured players would play, or perhaps one day and then the other; whether the striker he relies on most would also be available for the second match...

Nothing. De la Fuente won't be caught out again on his debut, when he swapped teams in three days and got himself slammed in Glasgow . In Sofia, despite Bulgaria being the weaker opponent, the starting lineup turned up. If Rodri and Carvajal are fully recovered, of course, they'll come in, and maybe one of them, if not both, will play against Turkey , but yesterday it was the starting lineup. With the tough center back and their starting center forward.

Scoring start

And the latter, the starting striker, proved him right from the start. Oyarzabal plucked a ball through from Zubimendi , faced off with goalkeeper Vutsov , almost in the six-yard box, and put Spain ahead. There was no better start, as it was confirmed that the home team intended to pack up the bus in their own penalty area and wait for the minutes to tick by. So the national team, already aware of Turkey's victory in Georgia, set about slowly racking up the goals. Lamine had one right away. The Barça winger made life miserable for Nuemberger , a left-back who plays in the German second division and who had a tough time.

It's true that Spain, this Spain, isn't without its holes , and the most important one is at right back. That's where the only Bulgarian chance of the first half came from, through Pedro Porro's area, who's having a tough time in this shirt. A weak shot from Kirilov hit the outside of the post. It was the skirmishes of the first half, a prelude, this time, to the goal of calm. The ball went from one side to the other, a pass inside for Mikel Merino , a face-to-face pass, the opening to Lamine, the cross, and a dead ball that Cucurella took advantage of to score his first goal for the national team. Spain is infinitely better than Bulgaria, and after half an hour, it was already clear. From then on, it was time to enjoy a Bulgarian summer night.

Mikel Merino scored the third, and Le Normand, oddly enough, was shown a yellow card, so Cubarsí warmed up. In fact, regardless of the yellow card or not, the break was the time to think about who to rest.

The return of Carvajal and Rodri

The fact is that after the break, only Cubarsí came on. It didn't matter much. Things were going so smoothly that the names didn't matter. The goalkeeper saved the fourth from a shot by Mikel Merino that crashed off the crossbar. That was the end of what little interest there had been. With half an hour left, the two most anticipated players appeared. Carvajal and Rodri came on, a year later, and the setting couldn't have been better. A downhill game, placid, lacking intensity, with no need to put a foot in... And so it was.

They participated in the rondo, which was the second half, which was merely a snapshot, much to the delight of Jesús Rodríguez , the youngster making his debut, and to the contemplation of Morata , who could have had a moment, at least from the outside. It would have been at least to look for another goal, because, looking now at Turkey, which is where the focus should be, in this qualifying group, in the event of a tie on points, the overall goal-average counts. And that's all for the information. As of September 5th, you're already up to date on the national team.