Spain - one year after winning World Cup 2010

Spain lifting the World Cup 2010

July 11th, 2010

Spain was crowned the World Champions of football for the first time in history. It took them 80 years since the inaugural World Cup was played in 1930. Better late than never – as the old adage goes.

Prior to the Euro 2008, the thought that Spain would win a big trophy was almost unthinkable. They almost always brought a talented squad to all the big tournaments. But somehow they always seemed to under-perform at key moments and bow out. So the challenge was more psychological than anything else. Can Spain seize the moment and overcome their mental blocks? They answered that question emphatically in Euro 2008 when they overcame a cagey quarter-final match-up against old nemesis Italy in a penalty shoot-out and following it up with convincing wins in the semifinals against Russia and against the Germans in the final.

The World Cup is as big as it can get. It is a much bigger stage than Euro Cup. Despite the shock defeat to the US in Confederations Cup 2009, Spain entered the World Cup as the strongest favorites. With Brazil in a rebuilding mode under Dunga, an Argentina team managed by the maniac Maradona plus the fact that Italy and France were on the decline, Spain was expected to reach the final and anything less would have been considered a failure.

Spain couldn’t have had a worse start, a shock defeat to Switzerland. Criticism rained on the players and Coach Vicente del Bosque home and abroad. Losing the first group game in a World cup means there is no margin of error anymore. They had to win the remaining two games to top the group and avoid a potential run-in with Brazil in the 2nd round. Del Bosque showed calm and composure in the tempest of criticism from all and sundry in Spain leading up to the 2nd game against Honduras, which Spain won comfortably. They went on to beat Marcelo Bielsa's Chile in the final group game after some anxious moments in the initial part of that game.

Spain went on to beat Portugal in the 2nd round, Paraguay in the quarterfinals, Germany in the semifinals, and the Netherlands in the final with 1-0 victories. While Spain didnt score as freely as they did in the Euro 2008, they controlled the tempo in all these games.

The lack of goals can be attributed mostly to the defensive posture adopted by the opponents. Barring Chile, who played their usual attacking style, the rest of the teams made significant adjustments to counter the Spanish passing game. In many cases they would give two-thirds of the pitch and the possession to Spain to try smothering them in the final third. The lack of contributions from the centre-forwards didn’t help either.

They persevered and believed in what they were doing despite being less flashy and less attractive. I believe this is where Spain has improved the most from Euro 2008 to World Cup 2010. The calm with which they took the loss to Switzerland and how they continued to display the same composure throughout the tournament bodes well for the future of Spain and doesn’t bode well for their opponents.

July 11th, 2011

One year away from that memorable moment when Andrés Iniesta slotted home the winner in the final, the future of Spain looks as bright as it has ever been. Despite a few reverses in the friendlies following the World Cup, Spain has a 100% record in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, a shoe-in for Ukraine-Poland 2012. The core of the team that won the World Cup 2010 is intact plus a bevy of exciting new players ready to renew and re-invigorate, Spain looks set for a deep run in the Euro 2012 next summer.

I sign-off with a couple of links to the Spanish campaign in South Africa 2010.

1. Summary of Spain in WC 2010 – the final is at the beginning and then the video takes us from the first group game through to the semifinals. Includes shots of Spanish papers in between.
2. Spain past and present – a nice summary of what Spain lacked in the past culminating in WC 2010 triumph. Slightly low quality but I loved the idea and the nice touch at the end of the video
3. Casillas – El Salvador -  a summary of Casillas’s  saves in the World cup, not fully captured in the video #1 which I believe were as important as the goals of Villa & Co

Portugal 4-0 Spain

I´ve been meaning to get to this more than interesting mess, this debacle of all debacles for a few days now, and it seemed like the right time. I figured a few days max and I could come out of my shell and write about the utter disappointment this was.

Xavi looked like the swivel that his lower extremities seem at times to be sitting on wasn´t working effectively; his turn wasn´t as ¨turny¨ as usual. Iniesta disappeared, and when you´re pale enough to do so naturally, then this accounts for it I guess. Worse was the defense; Pique continued his reckless challenges, a step too slow it seems for someone so young, Puyol caught out from covering for his Barcelona team-mate and Busquets, well let´s not talk about Busquets. I´d get even madder if I talked about Busquets. This was such a disappointing match. How can they call themselves world champions if they can´t beat Cristiano Ronaldo´s Portugal?

Does this sound sincere? It´s not. We heard the same sorts of calls from reporters after the 4-1 drubbing by Lionel Messi´s Argentina in September played at the Monumental in Buenos Aires and a month earlier when they played in Mexico City at the Azteca in front of 100,000 fans and were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw. These are international friendlies. Exhibitions, people. Playground games. No better than playground matches in my opinion. Sure, there are plenty of people who think that when Spain play they should win every-time. I´m not. Wake me up when the qualifiers start in earnest.

Or do you think that the class that Spain have on their side just magically disappeared, David Villa just decided to take a break? Isn´t he thinking about this week´s Almeria match and next week´s clásico rather than the sort of manufactured rivalry that exists between Portugal and Spain? I would hope so if I were Pep Guardiola. Isn´t this ultimately the same squad for the most part that bowed out to Spain in the last World Cup? Wasn´t the gap in quality apparent then and how is that match less important overall? 

This is just another example as to the lack of perspective we find, not merely in the twitter-verse where every goal is the best goal ever and every win the most magical night for so and so in the history of football, but in the press-rooms where they should know better.

Cristiano Ronaldo Meets Mandela

Cristiano Ronaldo met with Nelson Mandela at his home in Houghton on June 9, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa.