Spain football coach De la Fuente vows to fight for gold medal

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TOKYO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Luis de la Fuente, the coach of the Spanish men's Olympic football team was a happy man as he spoke to the press after Marco Asensio's impressive 115th minute curling shot finally broke the deadlock to give Spain a 1-0 win against hosts Japan in the semifinal of the tournament.

The Spanish will now play Brazil for a gold medal after assuring themselves at least a silver medal, although De la Fuente was looking for the top prize.

"We came here with the clear idea of being in the final and we are going to fight for gold," he said, looking back over a tense 120 minutes.

"It was a high-level match with two teams fighting for the final and there were moments of really good football, which neither wanted to lose," commented the coach, who nevertheless believed his side created enough chances during the 120 minutes to come out on top.

De la Fuente admitted that he had suffered from the sidelines. "It is not incompatible to play very well and suffer. At this level it is almost impossible to win easily, there isn't much difference between teams and everything is very even," he commented, adding that Spain's ability to suffer was a big plus for them.

"I am totally certain that being able to suffer is an extra value my players have, they work hard, they make sacrifices, try to improve and show solidarity with each other...They are a great group of players," insisted the coach.

Spain's match-winner Asensio had started the game on the bench after a slightly disappointing tournament, but De la Fuente said it was important to ask for the best from his players.

"You would do a disservice to any player if he didn't ask you to be exceptional. If we do not ask him for this ability to resolve, he would not be in the squad. I think what he has done is natural, he is capable of doing that and a lot more," he concluded. Enditem

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