Review of Spain's games

The England vs Spain game was a far from engrossing encounter it did have some real intrigue to it. Spain are noted and praised for their tiki-taka technique just as Barcelona are and the week before the international friendly Barcelona were held by Athletic Bilbao. Loco Bielsa kept his tactics fairly sane and the rain soaked pitch slowed down the movement of Barcelona. Bielsa was a cult figure in charge of the Chilean national team with his adventurous tactics but it was the defensive tactics of Bilbao that sought most of the praise from the media after the match. After the game Pep Guardiaola said that “We’ve never played against a team who were so intense, so aggressive, and has denied us so much space”. Capello apparently showed clips of the game at San Mames to his England squad.  England started with Phil Jones in midfield and his job was to be big and awkward which he did with aplomb.

A difference between England and Bilbao was that England sat back, way back, inviting pressure from La Roja. At times it was painful to watch as England parked the bus as Cesc put it, but it worked, for Darren Bent read Fernando Llorente who ran thanklessly upfront until a ball was hurled into the box for him to win the header, Frank Lampard’s tap-in was Pique’s own-goal.

For all of the Spanish possession (completed passes reads England 293 – 844) Spain created little, Spain where too narrow and too easy to defend against Lescott and Jagielka were outstanding and being an Everton fan made me feel all nostalgic. I think Del Bosque made some mistakes with his squad selection, as mentioned in my previous entry, Soldado should have been selected, Spain picked up three yellow cards in easily qualifying for the 2012 which is great as they don’t need to make fouls but it could also suggest a lack of aggression. Something evident on Saturday and definitely something that Soldado brings. Without Soldado on the bench Del Bosque had Llorente who has played superbly for Spain when called upon, point in case: Spain vs Paraguay in the WC. Del Bosque brought on Torres..... When Xavi was taken off at half time he should have been replaced by Santi Cazorla, the closest thing Spain have to a replacement to the pass master. 

Picture taken from the excellent article from Zonal Marking: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/11/14/del-bosque-spain-tactics-false-nine-euro-2012/

Spain’s team against Costa Rica offered a bit more width with Navas getting a game, however, they needed late goals to save themselves in a 2-2 draw. Del Bosque once again overlooked Fernando Llorente who must be mightily frustrated at travelling 18,349km and got no minutes of playing time. In this game Spain did replace Xavi for Cazorla and fared better in the second half. Just like at San Mames.

Whilst the national side have struggled in their most recent International games the U21’s have been flying. I managed to catch the full game against the Swiss U21’s, Spain were strong at the back with Montoya, Bartra, Martinez and Planas and creative up top with Iker Muniain, Isco and skipper Thiago. Spain are sitting pretty at the top of their group, maximum points from 5 games and 20 goals to match their solid defensive that have only let 2 slip past them.

So the future isn’t a problem for Spain and according to my students the present isn’t either, after all they were only friendlies. However, Germany who are looking like the strongest challengers to Spain’s European title trounced World Cup finalists Holland (albeit missing a few key players) 3-0. Germany also have a young promising side with a plethora of exciting trequartista’s coming through. Jeffrey Bruma the Dutch and Hamburg defender summed up the result against Germany perfectly.

'Spain might be thinking the same as Jeff'

Coincidently Spain may meet Germany a lot earlier than the final (Euro2008) or the semi’s (WC2010) as the pools are:

Pot 1: Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Netherlands
Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia
Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden
Pot 4: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland    

It’s shaping up to be a great tournament and Spain will have to improve drastically from this weeks performances.