The Legends of the
Fall
A lament and look back at one of the greatest
football teams on the face of the earth and its eventual fall.
by rick olivares pic from marca
In the 115th minute of play in the 2010
World Cup Finals at Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa, Dutch midfielder
Elijero Elia tried to break down Spanish right back Sergio Ramos.
It is in this exact moment where Cesc Fabregas, traditionally
a midfielder but sometimes playing striker in Spain’s system moved in to help
out his compatriot. Elia lost the ball and the Spaniards immediately went on
the counter attack.
The ball was pitched to Jesus Navas who ran up the right
sideline. He passed to Andres Iniesta in the central midfield who found a
couple of Dutch defenders fronting him. Iniesta sent a short pass to Fabregas
who had run up in support. Striker Fernando Torres then linked up on the left
and the ball made its way to him. Torres sent a cross to Iniesta who was now
inside the box. The cross was deflected away by Holland’s Rafael Van der Vaart
who lost his balance and fell to the pitch. The weak clearance found its way to
Fabregas who immediately sent back the ball to Iniesta who was now unmarked as
Van der Vaart had not yet gotten back on his feet.
Iniesta seized the opportunity and blasted a powerful
shot to the left past a diving Maarten Stekelenberg to bring the long, arduous
and sometimes brutal match to an end, a 1-nil victory for Spain, and its first
World Cup.
Iniesta took off his shirt that revealed a
handwritten message to a late fallen comrade, “Dani Jarque siempre con nosotros
(Dani Jarque always with us)”. He was cautioned but he didn’t care. Spain had
its trophy that certified them the class of world football.
Even better, Spain began to emerge after a prolonged
economic slump. Life was good. Or so it was.
Four years and eight days after Spain’s spectacular
triumph, Marca, Madrid’s biggest newspaper, featured Iniesta on its cover, with
his left hand on his face and his back turned. The headline read: “The End. A
lamentable final to the epic and glorious run of La Roja.”
Chile had just eliminated Spain, 2-nil, in their
second match of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil earning the distinction of being
the only defending champion to flame out after only two matches. A few days
earlier, Holland gained a modicum of revenge for their loss in South Africa with
a masterful 5-1 victory over the erstwhile incumbents.
The loss to the Dutch could have been a fluke. After
all, revenge was a powerful motivation. Despite the humiliation, Spain believed
they could right their ship against Chile. Didn’t they lose to Switzerland,
1-nil to open the 2010 World Cup?
Yes, they did. In South Africa, they were realizing
their greatness as they would go on to cop a third major trophy in the 2012
European Championships. Apparently, that third Euro championship was to be
their high point. For in the finals of the 2013 Confederations Cup, they were
defeated in embarrassing fashion, 3-nil, by a Brazil team that didn’t sit back
and wait for the Spaniards to lull their opponents to sleep before attacking.
The Selecao came out with a lot of energy, pressed high, and raided the passing
lanes. And when the opportunity presented itself, they were physical too.
Spain went from tiki, taka to tackled.
The cracks were already evident but people chose to
ignore them. During the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, Spain played eight
matches where they won six and drew two. They scored 14 goals for and conceded
three. It isn’t so bad except when you compare that to their 2010 qualifying
record, Spain was a robust 10-0-0 en route to finding the back of the net 28 times
while conceding five.
They had rousing wins – 4-1 and 3-nil over Russia,
5-0 versus New Zealand, and 10-nil over a grossly overmatched Tahiti.
Against the topsides – Germany, Italy, and the
Netherlands -- they kept a clean sheet. But they had only scored one goal
in each victory in itself. Scoring was a problem. Even against a tough Iraq
team whose players all suit up abroad as there is no local league to
participate in given the long-standing conflict in the region, Spain could only
muster a 1-0 triumph.
In these two matches in Brazil, opponents scored
seven goals to Spain’s solitary one. El Pais, commented on the lopsidedness of
it all, “The most complete ridicule.”
It didn’t seem too long ago that Spain, the Iberian
Peninsula nation, despite a long history of producing some of the biggest and
best known clubs in the entire world in Real Madrid and Barcelona with some of
her native sons – Alfredo Di Stefano, Emilio Butragueño, and Raul Gonzalez to
name a few -- becoming synonymous with the sport, wilting on the grandest
stages of them all.
There was one early moment of glory before this current
Golden Generation of players brought their country to heights hitherto
unscaled. In 1964, La Roja, copped European gold when it defeated the Soviet
Union, 2-1, at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.
That Spanish team’s one star was Luis Suarez, not to
be confused with Uruguay’s current whirling dervish of a forward.
Mandeep Sanghera, writing for BBC Sport, quoted
former Marca sportswriter Juan Castro as saying, “If you look at that win, the
Spanish public doesn’t consider it as important as it was. It is not in the
hearts of the public. That is probably because, although we remember Luis
Suarez, it was a team of no superstars.”
That considering the team was composed mainly of
players from Real Madrid and Barcelona. The backdrop of that era wasn’t only
the Cold War period but an ongoing shooting war between Greece and Albania,
both who had begged off from the tournament.
Politics wasn’t the only problem of neighboring
countries. On the homefront, General Franco, the ruler of Spain at that time,
forbade the national team from playing in the Soviet Union. Yet when La Roja
booked a quarterfinal tickets to the Soviets, Franco eventually relented. Spain
crushed the Russians for a second time in the tournament and brought home its
first major football trophy.
It wasn’t until 44 years later that Spain would taste
and finally be recognized for its greatness.
In Euro 2008, Spain began to put it all together. In
their eighth participation in the biennial tournament, they snuck on opponents
as the 12th seed.
In the group stages, they destroyed a familiar foe in
Russia, 4-1. They closed out the group play with identical 2-1 wins over Sweden
and Greece.
Advancing to the knockout rounds, they defeated
Italy, 4-2, on penalties. In the semis, they repeated their dominance over
Russia, 3-0. In the finals, they slipped past a young but no less talented German
team, 1-0.
It was an incredible finish for Spain as it took down
higher seeded such as Sweden, Greece (although it was a pale comparison of its
2004 champion self), as well as perennial title contenders Italy and Germany.
Spain was finally atop the football world.
In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, La Furia Roja flexed
its newfound confidence and fully unleashed tiki taka on the world. They were
imperious and Euro 2012 was theirs as well. They were serenaded for their free
flowing game. Tiki taka had supplanted total football (even if it was its
offspring due to its Dutch masters at La Masia where the style was perfected).
When Spain finally ascended to the top of the
football world it was swift and a came as a delightful surprise. No longer the
eternal bridesmaid La Roja flexed its muscles and remained dominant for six
long years.
That is why when La Furia Roja was dispatched in
embarrassing fashion and after only two matches played in Brazil, it was a
shocking surprise. They didn’t even put up a fight. Unless you consider that
last half of football against Chile a fight.
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque who has presided on
the last two Spanish triumphs cautioned against hasty judgments or
recriminations. In pleading words he underscored that that there will be a time
for this.
It is ironic that the country and the team that gave
football two of its best innovations since the Dutch unleashed “total football”
in the 1970s – the 4-2-3-1 formation and tiki taka went to the land where the
beautiful game is played only to be deconstructed.
When La Furia Roja takes to the pitch at the Arena da
Baixada in Curitiba at noon of the 23rd of June (June 24 in Manila)
to play Australia, both teams’ swan song for this World Cup, watch them.
Whether in mournful sympathy or to see which side will notch their first win or
even a draw in what has been a horrifying campaign for both.
This might be the last you’ll see of this team that
showed the world how the game should be played.
The King is dead. Long live the King.
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