DOMINIC KING: Luis Enrique had joked that things were going too well for his Spain team at the World Cup... now they face adversity - but he'll feel more at home!

Luis Enrique began chuckling on Saturday lunchtime when it was put to him that things could not be going better. A supercharged start to the group stage with a thumping victory had prompted whispers that he was moulding a team to conquer the world.

In that inimitable way of his, Enrique tried to cultivate the idea that two weeks of smooth preparations and a 7-0 skewering of Costa Rica wasn't actually providing the background against which he likes to work.

'I feel more at ease when I am facing adversity!' the former Barcelona head coach protested, to varying degrees of scepticism. 'I've had very successful moments but I perform at my best when there is hardship. These last two weeks have gone so well... too well!' 

Now he has got his wish. Spain, with the prompting of Dani Olmo and the enduring class of Sergi Busquets, were seven minutes away from progressing serenely into the knockout stages but now they find themselves in a position that is filled with jeopardy.

It should not have come to this for a man whose decisions are, in the main, impeccable. Enrique's three substitutions early in the second period had enabled Alvaro Morata to pilfer a deserved opening goal but naivety left them in a situation that means Japan can knock them out.

Theoretically this should be a situation he relishes. It would be a calamity if a team that can pass the ball like Spain, that has the youthful exuberance of Gavi and Pedri, found themselves going home early rather than plotting a way to the Lusail Stadium on December 18.

Spain have got some extravagantly talented players but the reason they are potentially contenders to follow in the footsteps of their 2010 heroes is because they have got the best head coach at the tournament, a man who can see the game from a different perspective.

Enrique led Barcelona to their last Champions League triumph in 2015, one of five trophies they collected that memorable year; he showed that pedigree in the second period, making the substitutions that enabled Alvaro Morata to come off the bench and open the scoring.

A failure to take chances ultimately was their undoing and, perhaps, it could have been even worse if Unai Simon, their erratic goalkeeper, had been punished for some of the nonsensical passes he made that put Spain under pressure.

Simon could do nothing when Niclas Fullkrug thrashed the equaliser past him, leaving Enrique spinning to his bench and throwing his hands up in exasperation. By the final whistle, however, he was fully composed and shared in a wonderful exchange with Hansi Flick.

Three times these two men went to each other acknowledging the effort that had gone into an absorbing contest. And if anyone was able to compartmentalise the vagaries of sport and where they stand in life, then it is Enrique.

November 28 was, tragically, the day his little girl Xana passed away in 2019 after a short-illness. No parent should ever have to endure that pain but he and his family have carried that burden with great dignity. When he talks about hardship in sport, he knows how trivial it really all is.