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Bengaluru: Think of a crème brûlée So imagine eating it without stop for two hours
Nauseand, is not it?
This is what happened to Spain, which came out of Spain in tiki-taka & A Sunday World Cup in Excess of Penalties The 2010 champions booked a return by plane instead of a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
The absence of the playmaker Andres Iniesta Did they save the maestro's aging legs for bigger battles?
As it turned out, Russia proved once again the madness of under – estimate the adrenaline rush of patriotic fervor that host teams to victory against all odds David killed Goliath Moscow
The team Although ranked lowest among the 32 qualified for this World Cup, Russia had no illusions about what she should do against Spain. Sink deep into the trenches and stop the Spanish attacks.
Strangely, there was no sign of attack from Spain. Instead, the Spanish team played midfield tiki-taka hoping maybe sneak attack after the Russians fell asleep.
The principle of possession of football is that opponents can score if they do not get the ball. But it becomes absurd if the opposing team has neither the skill nor the will to go on the offensive. The whole of Russia was praying for the match to continue in a penalty shoot-out where his captain Igor Akinfeev would be ahead of Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea, who had deceived Cristiano Ronaldo in his first Cup match. of the world.
Russian defender Sergei Ignashevich turned his back on his Spanish counterpart Sergio Ramos to prevent him from getting through. The cunning Ramos drew Ignashevich towards him, and falling forward, the Russian returned the ball in his own end. It was far from the Spanish objectives tiki-taka of the past, but that would be the case.
Artyom Dzyuba, the great Russian striker, had other ideas. He found himself in a poorly placed arm of Gerard Pique after a corner. With 140 million Russian hearts beating nervously with his, Dzyuba slammed into the equalizer minutes before halftime. Ajuba !
The pause was an opportunity for Spain to rethink its tactics. The tiki-taka in the middle was only consuming time, the Russians being happy to sit in defense. The few incursions advanced in an iron curtain. Spain needed a total attack and she could afford to do it against a team that seemed far from threatening even in counterattack.
But there was no sign of Iniesta even after halftime. When he finally entered after the 60th minute, we started to see the offensive tiki-taka with pbades forward. It was too late, however, and it was after all that a shadow of tiki-taka who won the World Cup in 2010, and the European Championships from 2008 and 2012.
There was no Xavi to complete Iniesta. The other veteran of tiki-taka David Silva, made way for Iniesta. The next Isco has the ball skills but not the short pbad magic that would let Spain waltz in the Russian goal as in the past.
In this case, it turned out to be too small, too late. Spain's best chance was to go out with Iniesta when everyone had fresh legs at the start, and take the game in the Russian penalty box more frequently without worrying about losing possession. Perhaps the five goals that the Spanish defense has left in the group stage have made them conservative. But this, and an underestimation of Russia, proved fatal.
Spanish tactics inevitably renew the debate over whether the plot was lost from the start when coach Julen Lopetegui was sacked one day before the World Cup. The president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, decided that it was unacceptable that Lopetegui be transferred to Real Madrid just after the World Cup (and unsustainable that he was informed only a few minutes before to make it public).
Lopetegui's substitute, Fernando Hierro, one of the best Spanish defensemen of his time, was only a coach for a year with Real Oviedo, second division. He had been appointed sports director of the federation, which was more of an administrative job. Now, suddenly, he was pushed into the role of the national coach. "I came in a suit, I will go in tracksuit," he said.
In these circumstances, it is not surprising that the former Spanish defender did not have a clue how to shape a tiki-taka ] attack. He will have time to work in the plane in Spain
Sumit Chakraberty is an independent writer and writer based in Bangalore
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