By Victor Kanayo
Spanish manager Luis Enrique has resigned from his role barely 48 hours after the country’s shock early exit at the 2022 World Cup holding in Qatar.
Revealing this in a statement, the Spanish Football Federation said a “new project” would begin soon.
“The RFEF would like to thank Luis Enrique and his entire coaching staff at the helm of the national team in recent years,” the Federation further said.
African side Morocco beat Spain on penalties in the last 16 on Tuesday December 6.
Throughout the regular and extra time, a star-studded Spainish team failed to break down their resilient opponents in a cagy goalless draw.
Enrique claimed his side had practised 1,000 penalties before the tournament, but they failed to convert a single one as they missed out on the quarter-finals in Qatar.
Spain also lost to Japan as they finished second in Group E – and were briefly staring at an even earlier exit when Costa Rica took a shock lead in their final group game before Germany hit back.
The Spanish team produced the biggest statement in the opening round of fixtures with a 7-0 win over Costa Rica, following it up with a 1-1 draw with Germany that put them on course to top the group.
But the surprise 2-1 defeat to Japan pushed them into a knockout tie with Morocco, who had conceded just one goal – a freak own goal – in their opening three fixtures.
The quarter-final stage of the ongoing soccer fiesta will happen between December 9 and 10.
