It has been enough time now for everyone to come to terms with what has happened with Spain in this World Cup, and with one game still to go they cannot qualify for the next round of the World Cup. An accomplishment many people would have deemed impossible. Except this nightmare for the people of Spain has become a reality and six years of absolute dominance has dwindled away with two games.
The real question on everyone’s mind however, is why did this happen, how can Spain go from utter control to being taught two footballing lessons by Netherland’s and Chile? I feel one of the main issues for Spain was the dilemma Del Bosque faced in whether to include Diego Costa who had been prolific all season for Atletico Madrid. However, a hamstring injury sustained in final La Liga game of the season between Atletico and Barcelona meant the whole of Spain held their breath as to whether he would be fit for the World Cup. Diego Costa made the final 23 man squad, despite not being a 100% full fit or match sharp, Costa only lasted nine minutes of the Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atletico to the whole world’s disappointment, in which Madrid eventually ran out easy winners in the most dramatic of ways.
Nevertheless, Diego Costa started the match against Netherland’s and hugely failed to impress, partly due to the fact he was not fully sharp and also the tempo and build up of Spain’s play does not utilise Costa fully. The patient build up of Spain’s play means that Costa was constantly finding himself frustrated in the final third, Costa was continuously making clever moves in the box but the delivery was not there. The reason Costa was so successful this year at Atletico was due to their high intensity and tempo of Atletico’s football and finding Diego Costa early in the box.
Another huge factor, especially in the second game was that the Spain players looked physically and mentally fatigued, many people have questioned their hunger and desire to win after simply being unstoppable over the past six years, do they really still have the fire in their belly? A lot of players massively underperformed compared to the level that they reached for their clubs, ultimately I feel Spain struggled with the high intensity from Netherland’s and Chile and the better teams on the day won.
The real issue for Spain is how they fight back after two crushing defeats and a terrible tournament. Something that will fill Spain will some optimism will be that this has happened to both Italy and France in recent World Cup’s after winning the tournament previously and failing to get out the group the following tournament, France in 2002 and Italy in 2010. Both teams bounced back and remain real heavyweights in international football. I don’t feel Spain need to change but what they do need to do is play with the same sort of intensity that they have done for the past six years. Pass with a purpose, and dominate the game with total possession that has found them so much success. Spain in this World Cup have not reached the amount of possession that they have in the past and it is crucial they re discover their ability to compress teams back into their own half for the whole game.
Football is so wonderfully brilliant because it is constantly changing, we have seen teams dominate and then get slaughtered in the past and a new apex predator arrive. The supremacy of Barcelona and Spain was never going to last forever, and Barcelona felt the same pain Spain have, when they were humiliated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Yet it is not all doom and gloom, Spain still currently holds the World Cup, European Championship, Europa League and the Champions League at club and international level. What Spain must now do, is go away and re-evaluate what went wrong and figure out a way that they can get the best out of the players they have available while trying to integrate the next generation of Spanish superstar’s for the Euro’s in 2016.
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