As the Spain players stepped out onto the Dallas pitch on Tuesday, they were driven by more than the prospect of a World Cup final. They wanted to get there in a way that said something more; that settled a debate, as much as a semi-final.
Spain were naturally aware of all the excitement about France’s attacking, to the point the European champions were commonly dismissed as some lesser side.
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They were not just intent on proving they were superior, then, but also that they had a superior idea.
What was so striking about Spain’s 2-0 win was how they confirmed it with their chests out.
That’s no mere figure of speech.
Despite the fear most felt at that exuberant French attack, Luis de la Fuente’s team were willing to take the ball on in the tightest areas and still play. It was bravery, in the truest football sense. Forget big headers under pressure. Every pass forward was a statement, but was also seen within Spain as bringing la seleccion full circle.
Spain celebrate an impressive semi-final win over France (Getty)
The showpiece second goal, culminating in Pedro Porro’s wondrous one-two finish, was seen as a mirror of the move that first announced Spanish supremacy.
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Back in October 2007, as Luis Aragones’ side were still enduring so many old doubts after early elimination from the 2006 World Cup, they started to move through the gears in a Euro 2008 qualifier away to Denmark.
From the 39th minute, a 28-pass move would flow into Sergio Ramos, who sumptuously lifted the ball over Thomas Sorenson. An idea had form.
And it’s why this Porro goal, even more so than the effervescent intensity of Euro 2024, has been cast as the grand reaffirmation of that idea; enhanced and given modern form.
Pedro Porro’s goal was the culmination of the footballing idea at Spain’s very core (Reuters)
Elements of the entire display were also similarly reminiscent of the Euro 2012 final, and this will to prove a point.
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Are you not entertained, Porro might well have roared as he clenched his fists in celebration. Because it’s not just a Spanish idea that has been restored, but also a wider debate around it.
As at the 2010 World Cup and especially Euro 2012, there have been growing rumbles about how “boring” their possession is. That seemed even more pronounced against the expressiveness of France, which gave extra edge to Spain’s performance.
While it should be acknowledged that much of this will simply come down to subjective emotional response to what people see before them, the reality of how it works has always been more complicated.
Some of this was a touch harsh across 2010-12, as if it was only the Spanish play being assessed. The push-pull of how tactical evolution works has often been overlooked.
Is Spain’s impeccable ball retention and passing actually boring? (Getty Images)
Spain’s Euro 2008 winners had, after all, been talked about in similar terms to France and their own Euro 2024 champions, but that was essentially because opposition weren’t prepared for them. They stepped out, and got cut up.
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By 2010, that had drastically changed, an entire era influenced by how Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan approached Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. If Spain were going to just have the ball, one solution was to not allow them to have any space around goal. They met more extreme defensive responses than any team had yet seen. Would Brazil 1970 have looked the same against this?
It led to many of these long nights of the soul, Spanish anxiety further played upon by how their high line left them susceptible to sudden breaks. Vicente del Bosque’s response was a double pivot in Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso, shifting Xavi and Andres Iniesta up but also removing a wide player.
Spain would get you on the carousel, but it wasn’t long until they were going round in circles.
After a trophy-laden spell from 2008 to 2012, Spain became stale (Getty)
From 2014, when a historic team finally just became stale, they were also too dogmatic. Spain became so obsessed with keeping possession they never let loose. This resulted in the nadir of elimination to Russia in 2018 and the failure to win a World Cup knockout match for 16 years, until it was finally understood that they had to evolve.
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Luis Enrique started this process, but it is instructive – and fitting a theme of this World Cup – that the best current club manager couldn’t take it all the way.
By 2022, and elimination to Morocco, there was too easy a regression from the release of Euro 2020.
Ultimately, Luis Enrique wasn’t as in tune with the idea as De la Fuente.
The current manager has been working in the national system since 2013, which was also when Uefa held a study group that saw every other association flock to the Spanish. A brilliant piece in sports newspaper AS details how coaching supremo Gines Melendez was willing to share virtually everything except the “secret formula” – and that out of “precaution”.
Luis de la Fuente took the ideas to the next level as Spain coach (Reuters)
Some of it isn’t so secret but just impossible to replicate. Spain has a long culture of small-sided, small-space street games, which their football infrastructure began to institutionalise after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
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Generations of players were organically developing the most supreme technique, which was then augmented with the best coaching.
This is what De la Fuente now taps into, an idea that is even more ingrained. It, of course, helps that he has Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, but helps even more that he knows them so well.
De la Fuente has worked with virtually all of these players through multiple youth teams. Seven of the current squad started the 2020 Olympic final (held in 2021) under him. That depth of understanding brings amplification of an approach.
It was never more needed than at the start of this World Cup, when Williams’ injury was the worst of numerous fitness issues in attack. There was no verticality.
De La Fuente knows Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams well (Getty)
Amid the 0-0 with Cape Verde, Spain looked like they might suffer the same problems as in so many modern tournaments. De La Fuente instead returned to the core idea, but with his knowledge ensuring it went to higher levels.
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Rodri personified this. Opposition sides, unable to execute an idea in the same way, again had to go deep.
Hence it’s not necessarily about Spain being “boring” but excellent technical execution against imperfect response. France showed the risk of stepping out. Spain won’t pass sideways. They’ll play through you.
Those who work in European football development add that Spanish talent and coaching is evolving, too. They are struck by how comfortable young players are in tight positions – as against this French attack – and with their touch and decision-making getting better.
Very few countries can produce players like this, as Thomas Tuchel found, but Spain is now producing squads of them. They have just walked the under-19 Euros.
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Tuchel would love to be bored like this…
A twist to this final is that Argentina football can actually respond in another way, and it is maybe the closest to Spain’s. Lionel Scaloni has overseen a welcome return to “La Nuestra”, the uniquely Argentine idea that favours short passing.
The great wonder is whether he will take on Spain on those terms, or seek to dig in and battle in the way the world champions can do better than anyone.
Argentina are well capable of frustrating the world champions in the way they hate, and then adding more on top of that. All of which is why the Spanish approach gives them the best chance of victory but is far from a guarantee.
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They may be technically excellent but they’re not perfect, and have gaps to pick at. Spain may have to be at their most assertive, at their bravest, to play through it.
An idea still needs form, after all. There is no form in football like the World Cup.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
