Post-mortem of Spain's disastrous WC 2014 campaign

     And so Spain's defence of the shiniest of shiny trophies foundered at the very first hurdle in Brazil. They are not the first world champions to bow out in the group stage, nor will they be the last, but the manner of their exit will hurt Spanish football for some time. A 3-0 win against an also-already out Australia did nothing to soothe the pain, but at least the team didn't finish bottom of the group, as Italy had four years ago. As silver linings go it's not the greatest, granted...
     The early exit of La Roja was greeted with delight by the massed Brazilian hordes in the stadia and heralded as the death of tiki-taka by a sneering media, but while the public reaction is understandable given Spain's scarcely-conceivable dominance over global football these past few years, the gloating over the perceived death of a style of play is both misguided and premature. For one thing, Spain only played a barely recognisable form of tiki-taka in the first match; a bastardised version which involved a few short passes followed by a seemingly-aimless lump upfield towards the wholly unsuited Diego Costa. They looked reasonably good up until the Netherlands equalised and should have gone into the half time break 2-0 up but for a bizarre David Silva choice of shot and a superb, meme-spouting diving header from Robin van Persie. Against Chile, the team seemed to

Tiki taka is about lots of arrows, apparently

react to criticism from the first game by deciding to alter their style to that of a high-pressing, high-energy, fast moving team - basically they tried to out-Chile Chile. The predictable happened, albeit with help from an awful attempted punch from Iker Casillas, and the European Roja ended up looking toothless, losing 2-0 and crashing out of the World Cup. In the dead rubber against Australia manager Vicente del Bosque gave run-outs to players who hadn't been given a chance and basically appeared to think 'sod it', sticking the amazing non-scoring striker Fernando Torres up front with all-time Spanish top-scorer David Villa. By this time the result was academic, of course, but at least the team seemed to partially resemble that which has stood astride the footballing world for over half a decade. Ok, so it was against a dispirited Australia shorn of its one class player in Tim Cahill, who'd scored the goal of the tournament in the previous game but also picked up a second booking of the competition. Del Bosque may have lost faith in the system in the end, but the Spanish football structure must stay true to the tried and tested formula.
     For another thing, much of the meeja underestimate how deep tiki-taka runs in the Spanish psyche and footballing DNA. All levels of the international team, from schoolboy up to 100-plus capped players, train to play the game in the same style. Obviously there will be players with different attributes coming through all the time - and granted, it is unlikely a new possession-retention machine will spring up immediately to replace midfield pass-control gnome king Xavi, now retired from international football - but they will all have a similar identity. Very possibly, what went so wrong in Brazil was not the system, but the players employed to put it into action. Through a mixture of age, lack of appetite having won everything in the game, and possibly some arrogance,

The future's bright, but not orange

the playing squad which had triumphantly waggled its collective dick in the face of world footballdom for more than half a decade failed the very system that made it so very successful. The sunny flip-side to this is that although the creaking first team floundered in South America, the younger Spain teams have been doing extraordinarily well of late. The under-21 team are currently double European champions and are leading Group 4 in qualifying for the next instalment of the competition with six wins out of six and a record of 22 goals scored to only five conceded. Members of La Rojita who are surely destined to burst into the main side imminently and gain more senior caps include the likes of Isco, Morata, Muniain, Deulofeu, Jesé (who should be back in action by October), Alcântara, Carvajal and Alberto Moreno, to name but a few.
     From the current squad which just returned from Brazil, David de Gea will surely have made the number 1 jersey his own in four years, although there is an argument to say that if Casillas manages to find first team football and rediscover his form, 37 is not too old to guard the nets at a World Cup - just look at Gianluigi Buffon and (to stretch the analogy further) Faryd Mondragón! I have little doubt new Spain captain Sergio Ramos will still be about at the age of 32, although the possibility remains he may have picked up a worldwide ban for collecting 50 career red cards by then. Piqué needs to rediscover his old form if he is to continue, but is one year younger than Ramos so could well still be in and around the squad. Alba at left-back is only 25 but I expect Alberto Moreno to be pressing him for a starting berth soon, while I prefer Dani Carvajal over Azpilicueta at right-back. The Spanish midfield is harder to call taking into account the wealth of class coming through the youth ranks, but 34 may not be too old for Iniesta to still be threading his way artfully through international defences. The rest of the midfield starters at this year's competition will be around the 30 mark, so I expect only half of them to figure at this point in four years time. The Spanish attack will see the biggest overhaul of personnel come the woebegone Russian competition in 4 years' time. David Villa has already bade a tearful goodbye to the shirt and Torres shouldn't have even made the cut this time round. Pedro will be 30 but is more of a winger and will have to sort out some kind of close control by the time his pace starts to desert him. The much maligned Diego Costa is still only 25 but I fully expect him to be cast aside as a failed Brazilian experiment. However, I am confident Jesé and Morata can form the kind of partnership Torres and Villa enjoyed at their collective peak.
     One of the most important positions of the team to help rebuild its international standing is in the technical area, or more usually spotted in the dugout sporting a face like a bankrupt pug. Following Spain's exit from the World Cup, manager Vicente del Bosque offered to tender his resignation but the Spanish football authorities, seemingly for once in their madcap lives, did the right thing in turning this down. It is my opinion that he should continue onto the next international championship and possibly take his successor under his wing before then, to help with the transition and ensure the team's identity remains. Although the team didn't need any transition period between the legendary Luis Aragonés stepping down after winning Euro 2008 and del Bosque taking over, surely it would not harm anyone were this to happen.

Sense-defying regulations

     For me, one of the worst things to emerge from the doomed Spanish World Cup defence was the kit. Oh that kit! Yes Adidas, the team's nickname is La Furia Roja, but that doesn't mean that the entire bloody kit has to be rojo! Whereas Nike, Puma and even Lotto managed to understand FIFA's pillocky mandate that teams had to have one dark and one light-coloured kit, Adidas just sploshed one colour across each of its design remits. For no readily obvious reason, the rules say kits aren't allowed to use more than four colours, one of which must be 'clearly predominant'. FIFA article 35.2 states; Each team shall inform FIFA of two different and contrasting colours (one predominately dark and one predominately light kit) for its official and reserve team kit (shirt, shorts and socks). In addition, each team shall select three contrasting colours for the goalkeepers. Now, this kind of makes sense but Adidas clearly decided to err on the side of caution and just have each of its teams in block colours rather than, say, keeping Spain in their traditional red shirts with dark blue shorts and having a lighter away kit. Stupid Adidas. Bloody stupid FIFA. As an aside, I just found out the other day that QPR will no longer ever have its proper hooped kit any more (at least while in the Premiershit) as new FA rules state numbers on shirts have to be on a blank background. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Modern football really is a load of toss.
     Anyway, all these regulations meant the Spanish players emerged from the tunnel for their last game at this World Cup wearing an appropriately funereal all-black kit, having already been eliminated along with opposition Australia. The game, although a dead-rubber, allowed for a few landmarks and international goodbyes by way of compensation. David Villa started wide left and

This picture doesn't do the finish justice

was the game's stand-out player. Lively and constantly driving, it was obvious he wanted to go out on a high and he got his goal in the 35th minute - an outrageous backheel beating the keeper for his 59th goal in 97 games for his country. El Guaje is Spain's all-time top scorer and his record will take some beating, so I was saddened when he was taken off only 10 minutes after the break. Not as distraught as Villa himself, who couldn't believe his international career was halted at such an early point in the match and slumped to the bench in tears. While Torres started alongside him - and even managed to score, shockingly - there will be far far better options up front in four years time. Behind this pair Iniesta won his 100th cap but was still the only one in the Spanish midfield with any creativity and drive about him, which is why I think he could still be doing the same job in four years. Iker Casillas was dropped and replaced in goal by Reina, and while I hope it's not the last we've seen of San Iker, he really does need to rediscover himself. A trip up the mountains to a Buddhist temple calls, methinks. The captaincy was taken over by Sergio Ramos who could hold that position for a while bearing in mind Xavi's retirement and Casillas' form, regardless of the Andalucian's use of the 'dark arts' (aka cheating).
     Whereas such an ignominious exit from a competition would have gone down to recriminations and much gnashing of teeth elsewhere, in Spain the mood was one of sadness more than splittle-flecked anger and blind fury. The papers, as well as the fans, are and remain thankful to this squad for their unmatched run of three successive major international tournament victories, and as such feel bad for this cycle coming to an end in such a fashion for such an amazing team. Obviously everyone expected them to do well in defence of their hard-won crown, definitely better than they did do, but the warning signs were writ large in the Confederations Cup capitulation to Brazil last

The ignored fans at Barajas

summer. The Spain team themselves were obviously expecting a different reaction as well, so while a large number of fans queued at Barajas airport in Madrid to welcome the team back with messages of support, the players slipped through the back door, not even going through the usual passport control checks. To be fair, even apart from the abject performances in South America, the squad may not have been in the right frame of mind to face fans after it was reported their plane had been struck by lightning on its final approach to Madrid. Hopefully not an ill-omen for times ahead.
     Nevertheless, the Spanish football team still retains the support of the people, who remember with fondness the names that served them so well in the red shirt in Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012. Their support remains, but they will be hoping for a Spain 2.0 to emerge from the ashes of this most deflating of tournaments.