THE SPANISH DOWNFALL
What we might be witnessing is the end of an era. International football dominated by Spain for the last 6 years, this was like a shock for every football fan. The European Champions and World Champions Spain, were eliminated yesterday after losing to Chile. A 2 lead to Chile in the 1st half went on till the 90th minute and knocked Spain, Out of Brasil.
This was a do or die game for Spain. A win would mean, they would still be able to qualify for the 'Round of 16' A draw would mean that no team from the group qualifies. A loss would knock Spain and Australia out of WC, and qualification of The Dutch and Chileans .
Though considered an easy game for the Spaniards, their miserable loss to Netherlands may have just turned the tables. They did and Spain lost their 2nd game this WC. This meant qualification of Netherlands and Chile to the 'Round of 16', and Spain and Australia out of WC 2014 Brasil.
CHILE vs SPAIN: Chile had made only 1 change, Silva had replaced Valdivia from the team that defeated The Aussies. Del Bosque took some risks while choosing The Spain squad. Xavi, who had not missed a game since the 2010 WC, was on the bench. In his place, a more attacking Pedro had been taken. Defender Pique was also barred from the 'Starting 11'. Defensive mid-fielder Javi Martinez had taken Pique's place.
The game started in an active manner. Spain enjoying the possession were not being able to break the Chilean defense. A few counter-attacks from Chile was an alarm bell for the Spanish defense. What I liked was that even though Alexis is team-mates with many of the Spanish players, he wasn't hesitant to tackle them, argue, fight with the ref, you don't get to see that much often. Back to the game. The nightmare for Spain stared just 20 mins into the game. Valencia player Vargas opened the scoring. Beating Casillas his touch to the ball ended in the back of the net. Chile leading. Not where Spain wanted to be. There have 7 teams this WC who have come from behind to win the game. It was not to be for Spain. 2 mins before half time, Aranguiz shot the 2nd goal for Chile. Spain were trailing by 2 goals before half time.
There is not much to talk about the 2nd half. Though some good attacks came from Spain, it never seemed they had recovered from the loss against The Dutch. The Road to Rio for Spain ended badly.
What we might be seeing is the not only end of Spanish domination, but also a successful plan against 'Tiki Taka' style of play. FC Barcelona known for their 'Tika Taka' have had a few bad seasons recently. Bayern Munchen, undoubtedly the best club of the last 2 seasons( not 13-14), had created the passing game after entry of 'Josep Guardiola'. Even though they won the league, Munchen were thrashed by Real Madrid in UCL.
I don't wanna go against any team/ manager, but what we have seen is emergence of a more attacking/ counter-attacking play in the last few seasons. And it is looking impressive.
The WC carries on without defending champions Spain, let's hope for the best. But now 1 thing is sure, there will be new champions this WC.
CHILE vs SPAIN: Chile had made only 1 change, Silva had replaced Valdivia from the team that defeated The Aussies. Del Bosque took some risks while choosing The Spain squad. Xavi, who had not missed a game since the 2010 WC, was on the bench. In his place, a more attacking Pedro had been taken. Defender Pique was also barred from the 'Starting 11'. Defensive mid-fielder Javi Martinez had taken Pique's place.
The game started in an active manner. Spain enjoying the possession were not being able to break the Chilean defense. A few counter-attacks from Chile was an alarm bell for the Spanish defense. What I liked was that even though Alexis is team-mates with many of the Spanish players, he wasn't hesitant to tackle them, argue, fight with the ref, you don't get to see that much often. Back to the game. The nightmare for Spain stared just 20 mins into the game. Valencia player Vargas opened the scoring. Beating Casillas his touch to the ball ended in the back of the net. Chile leading. Not where Spain wanted to be. There have 7 teams this WC who have come from behind to win the game. It was not to be for Spain. 2 mins before half time, Aranguiz shot the 2nd goal for Chile. Spain were trailing by 2 goals before half time.
There is not much to talk about the 2nd half. Though some good attacks came from Spain, it never seemed they had recovered from the loss against The Dutch. The Road to Rio for Spain ended badly.
What we might be seeing is the not only end of Spanish domination, but also a successful plan against 'Tiki Taka' style of play. FC Barcelona known for their 'Tika Taka' have had a few bad seasons recently. Bayern Munchen, undoubtedly the best club of the last 2 seasons( not 13-14), had created the passing game after entry of 'Josep Guardiola'. Even though they won the league, Munchen were thrashed by Real Madrid in UCL.
I don't wanna go against any team/ manager, but what we have seen is emergence of a more attacking/ counter-attacking play in the last few seasons. And it is looking impressive.
The WC carries on without defending champions Spain, let's hope for the best. But now 1 thing is sure, there will be new champions this WC.
No comments:
Post a Comment