All hail Spain, the stylish pragmatists
Jul. 8th, 2010 01:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mahnmuthttp://worldcup.football365.com/story/0,27111,18486_6251162,00.html
"Football is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom" - Danny Blanchflower.
We'll have a new winner of the World Cup, and the romantics among you probably won't be bothered whether Spain or Holland prevail on Sunday.
Should Holland win, it will be the delayed reward for Cruyff, Krul, Rep and Michels, the 'Best Team Never To Have Won The World Cup (TM)'. For some purists it is a blot on the history of the game that the inventors of Total Football have never taken the top prize.
And if Spain win, those that drool over the silky passing of Arsenal and Barcelona will rejoice that the purest exponents of the beautiful game have succeeded. In a year when Inter Milan won the treble by mastering the art of winning without the ball, 'tiki-taka' can be proven as the one true way to win.
And yet these are two very modern football teams, for they combine the key elements of style and pragmatism. And Spain perhaps do this to the greatest effect.
For all the talk about their wonderful passing and glorious style, Spain's defence is often over-looked. They have conceded only twice in their six games, and one was that shambolic scramble over the line by Switzerland. Boy, that game seems eons ago, doesn't it?
Spain's success is built on their defence being so watertight (and the calming presence of Busquets and Alonso in front of the back four has as much to do with their frugality as Puyol, Pique and Casillas) that the creative forces ahead of them can do as they please, and hold their nerve, for they know those behind them will afford them every opportunity to conjure something.
And there lies the most important factor in Spain's path to the final. It has not been their passing. It has not been their movement. It has not even been the deadly finishing of David Villa. It has been their patience.
In all three of their knockout games, Spain have been frustrated for long spells, knocking the ball around without managing to find a way through a doughty defence until well into the second half. But at no point did they panic. In all three they found a way through, and it is perhaps slightly ironic that none of the three winning goals were particularly beautiful. Two rebounds and a header from a corner. They're not going to make the goals of the tournament list.
This is final proof that Spain have well and truly shaken the 'bottlers' tag that hung around their necks for years. In 2008 they won when not many expected they would, and most assumed that success would remove the monkey from their backs. In this World Cup they had to deal with a whole number of other psychological factors and pressures, coming into the tournament as they did as favourites and European Champions with a perfect qualification record.
They have required an iron will to go with their magical feet, a rare thing in any sort of football. Look at Argentina - so impressive in the group stages, but the minute they were pressed by anything approaching a decent team they folded. Not Spain.
The Spanish provide the perfect balance of beauty and pragmatism. They are tough but stylish. As easy to watch as they are difficult to beat. The Switzerland defeat suggested that they had been worked out, that teams knew how to combat them, and they would fade.
The mark of champions is the ability to get around these obstacles, to play in another way, and to win. Win with style, win with force, win by luck, whatever, just win. Spain do that.
It's going to be a hell of a final.
"Football is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom" - Danny Blanchflower.
We'll have a new winner of the World Cup, and the romantics among you probably won't be bothered whether Spain or Holland prevail on Sunday.
Should Holland win, it will be the delayed reward for Cruyff, Krul, Rep and Michels, the 'Best Team Never To Have Won The World Cup (TM)'. For some purists it is a blot on the history of the game that the inventors of Total Football have never taken the top prize.
And if Spain win, those that drool over the silky passing of Arsenal and Barcelona will rejoice that the purest exponents of the beautiful game have succeeded. In a year when Inter Milan won the treble by mastering the art of winning without the ball, 'tiki-taka' can be proven as the one true way to win.
And yet these are two very modern football teams, for they combine the key elements of style and pragmatism. And Spain perhaps do this to the greatest effect.
For all the talk about their wonderful passing and glorious style, Spain's defence is often over-looked. They have conceded only twice in their six games, and one was that shambolic scramble over the line by Switzerland. Boy, that game seems eons ago, doesn't it?
Spain's success is built on their defence being so watertight (and the calming presence of Busquets and Alonso in front of the back four has as much to do with their frugality as Puyol, Pique and Casillas) that the creative forces ahead of them can do as they please, and hold their nerve, for they know those behind them will afford them every opportunity to conjure something.
And there lies the most important factor in Spain's path to the final. It has not been their passing. It has not been their movement. It has not even been the deadly finishing of David Villa. It has been their patience.
In all three of their knockout games, Spain have been frustrated for long spells, knocking the ball around without managing to find a way through a doughty defence until well into the second half. But at no point did they panic. In all three they found a way through, and it is perhaps slightly ironic that none of the three winning goals were particularly beautiful. Two rebounds and a header from a corner. They're not going to make the goals of the tournament list.
This is final proof that Spain have well and truly shaken the 'bottlers' tag that hung around their necks for years. In 2008 they won when not many expected they would, and most assumed that success would remove the monkey from their backs. In this World Cup they had to deal with a whole number of other psychological factors and pressures, coming into the tournament as they did as favourites and European Champions with a perfect qualification record.
They have required an iron will to go with their magical feet, a rare thing in any sort of football. Look at Argentina - so impressive in the group stages, but the minute they were pressed by anything approaching a decent team they folded. Not Spain.
The Spanish provide the perfect balance of beauty and pragmatism. They are tough but stylish. As easy to watch as they are difficult to beat. The Switzerland defeat suggested that they had been worked out, that teams knew how to combat them, and they would fade.
The mark of champions is the ability to get around these obstacles, to play in another way, and to win. Win with style, win with force, win by luck, whatever, just win. Spain do that.
It's going to be a hell of a final.
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Date: 2010-07-09 02:23 am (UTC)