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In rather unexpected turn of events, Spain's head coach Julen Lopetegui has been sacked just two days before their opening match against Portugal. The Spanish Football Federation called in a press conference on Wednesday and announced its decision. The timing of this announcement is extremely bizarre as Spain is currently preparing for the World Cup in Russia. The decision comes a day after Real Madrid had announced that Lopetegui would be becoming the club's manager after the World Cup. Assistant coach Fernando Hierro will take over as the head coach of the La Roja.
Lopetegui accepted the top job at Santiago Bernabeu after agreeing to a three-year deal and is set to succeed Zinedine Zidane, after the frenchman shockingly revealed that he was stepping down as the manager of the Los Blancos. The Spanish Federation thus felt that it was inappropriate for Lopetegui to continue as the coach of the national team.
The Spanish Football Association President Luis Rubiales was set to attend the FIFA congress in Moscow on Wednesday but instead flew to Spain's training base late on Tuesday -- soon after Real Madrid's announcement -- to deal with the matter. Rubiales in the press conference said that the negotiations between Lopetegui and the club happened without the knowledge of the Spanish FA and that they were informed just five minutes before the press release.
He has also said that the players and the staff will try to take the team as far as possible in the FIFA 2018 World Cup. "To win is very important, to have the best coach very important, but above everything is acting in the right way. Maybe this is tough now, but in the end it will make us stronger," Rubiales was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Spain will play its first Group B match against Portugal on Friday. The other two teams in the group are Iran and Morocco, who the La Roja will be facing on June 20 and 25 respectively. Lopetegui was tipped to take Spain to their second World Cup triumph after dominating in the qualifiers and the warm-up matches. The highlight of his short stint would be beating Argentina 6-1 in a friendly in March.
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