FIFA 2010 World Cup: Spain needs to versatile their Game Plan in order to Win
One of the most torn people after the Spanish defeat against Switzerland would be the Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque, who actually spent the whole last year planning and strategizing for the FIFA World Cup 2010. His ascent to power has led Spain to 23 victories out of 24 games, the only defeat coming in the Confederations Cup last summer against United States of America.
The saga started in Old Trafford 2007 by Andres Iniesta, bringing Spain’s 44 year wait for the world domination to an end, with just a loss in 49 matches they came out as victors from the European Championships in grand style. They actually have made a record of winning all the 10 games of the World Cup qualifying stages and if they manage to win this World Cup in the end, they would have garnered another record; of being the only team to have won the World Cup after defeat in the opening match.
The tragic loss was at astounding odds. The Swiss were expecting to be hammered, but fate had something else planned. On paper the Swiss produced a clean sheet from four years back in the World Cup. Bookies relay this bet to have odds of 4/1 for Spain and 175/1 for Switzerland.
The Swiss had trouble getting over Luxembourg, Israel, Latvia and Moldova. Not only that but half of the Swiss team can’t even converse properly with each other, coming from different ethnicities; majorly being Germans, French and Italians.
When the Swiss defender Philippe Senderos was asked of how to defeat the Spanish, Senderos cleared out that he had no idea how, but in fact he did as Swiss told the plan that they laid out perfectly, “All you can do against them is run and run, defend well, sit deep and hope to catch them on the break”.
The Spanish La Furia must be furious when they would have heard this. With them having 60% of the possession and their attempts at goals tallying out to be 23, they will eventually stop to think where they went wrong.
The long goal kick was held down by forward Eren Derdiyok after which a pass to Blaise Nkufo and a bounce of a knee was enough to create confusion. The Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas wasn’t able to time his kick and it got deflected back and though defender Gerard Pique rolled in an effort to stop the ball and bled in the face as a consequence. Gelson Fernandes was able to net it home for Switzerland, the goal became the match winner and Spain lost 1-0.
Now the Swiss are going for the record having produced a clear sheet for about 8 hours, while Spain loses their 50 match streak. One reason for the Spanish defeat could be the Barcelona play of the game. Jose Mourinho spanked the team in the Champions League with a victory so it would be no impossible task for others.
The team must have realized by now that Xavi Hernandez wasn’t at his usual acuteness, or that David Villa seemed a little too obvious and Sergio Busquets missed his swiftness. Jesus Navas produced more crosses than anyone in the tournament and yet no one was able to either receive them or the passes were misplaced. Fernando Torres was too fast as he tried to run without the ball into the net to score and of course a team as star studded that didn’t have Cecs Fabregas’s place in the starting lineup should think of giving him a chance now.
The Spanish will have to step up their game against Honduras, if they want to make an impression that they truly are the worthy contenders for the World Title. After all some healthy intimidation does keeps matter in check and balance.
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