Too early for epitaphs
When I talked about my expectation of lots of drama at the ongoing Fifa World Cup finals in Brazil in my last entry, nothing could have prepared me for what eventually happened. Some of the results registered so far have simply been ridiculous and clearly off-script. One very outstanding feature, though, is that compared with the last edition of the competition held in South Africa, it is raining goals in South America.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was going to remain loyal to Spain even though I did not expect them to repeat the success that they had spoiled me with in Euro 2008, Fifa World 2010 and the Euro 2012. The least I could do for a team that had given me so much sustained and consistent joy was to offer my unflinching support even if it were clear to me they could not repeat their past exploits.
The foregoing notwithstanding, I never expected La Furia Roja to depart from the tournament in such embarrassing circumstances. Indeed, at half time in their opening match against the Netherlands, they never looked in any serious danger. But once Arjen Robben scored the second goal, there was clearly one winner and the 5-1 margin, massive as it was, somehow flattered the Spaniards.
There were people who thought that this was what Arsene Wenger would call an accident, that Spain were in fact not as bad as the Dutch mauling suggested. This group took solace from the fact that Vicente del Bosque’s men also started the 2010 finals with a loss and could still progress with victory in the remaining two group games. Chile had other ideas and saw to it that Spain should fly home.
As is often the case, a lot has already been said about Spain’s elimination and the common theme is that their problems represent the death of their tiki-taka football. I beg to differ with those premature epitaphs. Just like Barcelona, the problem with the Spanish national team was the stale state of the players involved and not the football philosophy. Most of the players in that squad have seen better days.
The fact that their junior national teams have been winning continental and global tournaments means that there is plenty of talent coming out of the country’s production line and once the authorities and technical panel make the tough decision to bring through some of these players, Spain have the potential to remain a big force for a little longer. The long and short of it is that I still believe in their brand of football.
Meanwhile, the Barclays Premier League released its indicative fixtures for the 2014-15 season on Wednesday. Defending champions Manchester City have the most testing opening set of fixtures while the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea have the kind of opening games that would excite them. There are still eight weeks before the new season starts but the excitement is already building up.
