Is this the end of an era for Spanish football?

Spain 0-2 Chile, Maracana, Rio de Janeiro

The looks on the faces of the Spanish players and fans at the final whistle said it all: they were profoundly shocked. Indeed, it would have been impossible to think a week ago that World Champions Spain would be eliminated from the World Cup with just 2 games played! Such has been their dominance over the game in the past eight years, it seemed that this golden era marked by beautiful tiki taka football and the best defensive displays in the history of the game, would never end. But then all good things come to an end and so did Spain’s years of joy.

Group B was always going to be one of the toughest and Spain knew it would be extremely hard for them to make it out of the group. Yet it is not the fact that they are eliminated, rather the way it happened that will pinch Del Bosque’s team the most. The Dutch and Chile completely stifled Spain’s attack by simple, hard pressing of the Spanish players when they had the ball, getting numbers back to defend, surrounding Iniesta with three players, and hitting a very frail-looking Spanish defence hard on the break. Such a simple way to counteract one of the most powerful ideologies of football!

But of course, it is true that change is constant in every sphere of life, and updating oneself and keeping in touch with the latest trends in football is extremely important. The game will always keep evolving and any side that sticks to its old methods will find it very hard to achieve success on the big stage. We’ve seen it for years with England, who have never made a mark at World Cups because they kept sticking to their outdated ‘in-fashion-50-years-old’ 4-4-2 formation. And it was the same with Spain too before 2008 and the overhaul that resulted in two European Championships and one World Cup.

Don’t think it is the end for Spain though! They are one of the world’s best football nations and have the best talent of arguably any team in the world. Lots of changes will have to be made but then it’s much easier when you have such an amazing team and players who are always willing to learn and adapt. It is not the end of tiki taka either; the beautiful passing game has made its appearance many times through the history of the sport, only to again be [temporarily] defeated and go into the shadows for a few years or a decade. This is not Spain’s best moment, but it is certainly one they will have to learn from and use as a springboard to come back strong. It is going to take time, at least a few tournaments will pass before Spain can be at their peak again, but as history has proved, it is always worth the wait.

One thing that never changes though, is the need to defend well. And Spain’s defending in these two games was horrific. Strange, considering they had always been the best at this. Pique and Sergio Ramos at certain times looked as though they were nervous debutants, and Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso looked energy-sapped in that midfield. At times it seemed even a school team would have been able to get past this defence. Iker Casillas was in no great form either, perhaps the legendary goalkeeper is past his peak. His club managers Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho certainly feel so.

Rarely have Spain been so ordinary in attack. They weren’t able to string three passes together, in stark contrast to 4 years ago when you could not get the ball off the Spanish! Diego Costa had a torrid tournament after such a great season at Atletico Madrid. He looks extremely ordinary and I wonder if it is too late for Chelsea to pull out of the deal to sign him. As a Chelsea fan, I for one am horrified at having the prospect of another Torres playing for the club. The normally effervescent Xavi, Iniesta and Silva were all quiet. Del Bosque’s team selection was very poor too. He seems to prefer an average bunch of players like Pedro, Torres, Costa and Busquets over pure talents like Fabregas, Mata, Cazorla, Koke and David Villa. Again, he has got to learn, and also realize he has to make better and quicker substitutions, not just like for like replacements. The Spain manager’s lack of progressive thinking heavily cost his team.

So the next few years will be crucial for the Iberian nation: a period of change, rebuilding, new ideas and hopefully, a return to the dominance they enjoyed in the recent past. Let’s hope they can make it!