Why Paco Alcacer Is Under Most Pressure for Spain Following Win over Belarus

Paco Alcacer suffered his first setback as a Spanish international with a below-par performance in the country's comfortable 3-0 win over Belarus on Saturday.

The Valencia striker had scored in all three of his previous competitive appearances for La Roja. With Diego Costa sidelined through injury, he had an excellent opportunity to stake his claim for a regular starting berth.

But the 21-year-old instead endured a frustrating evening in Huelva.

In the build up to the match, his former under-19 international teammate Alvaro Morata had spoken glowingly of Alcacer’s movement and abilities as a No. 9, as per AS.

His bright movement was certainly evident in the early stages on Saturday. He was in constant motion in search of pockets of space in behind the Belarus defence. But Spain’s opponents defended so deep that his runs, if spotted, were often too difficult for his teammates to pick out.

His other attributes were less visible. Alcacer gave the ball away with a couple of slack layoffs in quick succession in the opening exchanges and never really involved himself in the build-up play thereafter.

Per WhoScored.com, he had just 25 touches in total—a smaller amount than goalkeeper Iker Casillas and significantly less than any of his outfield colleagues.

And when chances did come his way inside the area, Alcacer failed to provide a decisive finishing touch. He volleyed Juanfran’s right-wing delivery into the ground and harmlessly into the arms of the goalkeeper on the quarter-hour mark and then headed into the side netting from Pedro’s whipped cross early in the second half.

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The Torrent native came into the match on the back of six-match goalless streak at club level. It was his second-longest such run since his ascension to the first team last October. But unlike Pedro—who brushed aside his own 12-match sequence without a goal for Barcelona to fire home the third—he was unable to get himself on the scoresheet.

Per Marca (in Spanish), by failing to do so, he relinquished his opportunity to challenge Telmo Zarra’s long-standing record of scoring in each of his first five competitive internationals.

One poor match will not, however, derail Alcacer’s national team ambitions. Everyone has the odd off-day. He is still young and has performed sufficiently well in his nascent international career to date to be deserving of a place in the squad.

He is well-versed in the style of the national team, having represented Spain at both under-19 and under-20 level. He was part of the teams that won the European U19 Championships of 2011 and 2012, scoring twice in the final of the first of those successes.

The effective manner in which he linked up with Costa in the win over Luxembourg in October hinted at a potentially interesting partnership. And his ability to find space in behind makes him an ideal substitute for when Spain want to switch to a counter-attacking approach once ahead.

Zarra’s record of six goals in his first eight competitive appearances is still within his reach.

But with Morata starting to find his feet at Juventus and Costa, despite the controversy, still likely to be heavily involved in the national team going forward, Alcacer may view Saturday’s match as a missed opportunity to secure himself a regular place in the starting XI.

He will hope for a chance to redeem himself against Germany in Vigo on Tuesday.