Doski stunner earns Iraq draw against understrength Spain in World Cup warm-up

Spain will depart from Santiago de Compostela at 10am on Friday morning bound for Chattanooga, via Nashville, but seven of the eight men who made their debuts in the final preparation game before the World Cup will not be on board with them. Nor will the seleccion be flying west with a victory after they bid adios with a 1-1 draw against Iraq at Estadio Riazor. Which may not sound very good – and it really was not very good either, a 22-minute cameo from Mikel Merino about the best thing about it – but is no cause for alarm. Luis de la Fuente’s side will still be among the favourites in the US, Canada and Mexico and rightly so; this was not really his side, at least not recognisably so. If anyone came for clues as to what Spain will be like at the World Cup, they did not find them in La Coruña. How could they when it played out like this? When the fifth and final group of players to report for duty at their Las Rozas HQ, 25km northwest of Madrid, had only arrived at quarter to nine on Wednesday night, 24 hours and 15 minutes before kick-off? When there were 11 substitutions made? When of the coach’s preferred XI, it’s plausible that only two or perhaps three started here? And when the players who probably most enjoyed this, for whom it most mattered, aren’t going to the US at all? Ten of the men who did travel to the US, were not included. It was not just those that had played the Champions League final – Fabián Ruiz, David Raya and Martín Zubimendi – who were left out. …