Before their shootout loss to Morocco, SPAIN manager Luis Enrique told his team to take 1,000 penalties collectively.
Enrique’s team was eliminated from the World Cup’s round of 16 after failing to score on any of their three penalty kicks.
Spain had the majority of the possession as the game ended 0-0, but Morocco showed class by winning the penalty shootout 3-0.
Get Instantly Update By: Joining Our Whatapps and Telegram Channel
Despite manager Enrique’s instructions for his team to prepare at least 1,000 penalties before boarding the plane for Qatar, Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler, and Sergio Busquets all failed to score for Spain.
Enrique was anxious to prevent a reoccurrence of Spain’s penalty shootout loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 semifinal.
The head of Spain said: “They must have completed their homework, in my opinion.
“In one of the Spain camps over a year ago, I instructed them that they needed to arrive with at least 1,000 penalties accrued. Penalties practice prior to arriving here won’t be sufficient.
“It’s time to display your nerve and prove that, after practicing a thousand times, you can fire the penalty in the manner you have chosen. It reveals a great deal about each player.
“The way you handle the strain may be trained and managed. There is less and less chance as the goalkeepers exert more power.
“Any one of the three goalkeepers we have is highly capable in this circumstance. I observe numerous players taking penalties every time we wrap up practice.”
Goalkeeper Unai Simon of Spain stopped a Badr Benoun penalty for Morocco before Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint-Germain broke the tie with a daring panenka penalty.
After making history by reaching the World Cup quarterfinal, Morocco will now play Portugal or Switzerland.