World Champions Spain needed this victory to lift the nation
A month could not have gone any quicker. The biggest feast of football has finally come to an end, leaving football fans to ponder as to how the rest of the summer is going to be spent. With no international or club competition in the near future, football fans may be dreading a football-less summer ahead until at least August. However, one set of fans will not mind the break.
After a giddy, exhilarating ride to the final and their final triumph, the Spanish national team has led their fans on a grand journey which, after half a century of under achievement, has finally ended in joy in South Africa 2010. Spain and Brazil were the favourites for the tournament and it is very rare that a team billed to be a favourite goes on to win the tournament. France was expected to win in the 2002 World Cup but they crashed and burned out of the tournament in the first round.
Having becoming the first European team to win a World Cup on non-European soil and the first team to win a World Cup after losing their first match of the tournament, Spain has roused a nation which has been buckling under economic and social hardships. Employment rates and inflation have been soaring and for the past month, it has only been Spain's march towards glory which kept people hoping with anticipation about joy and happiness. Parallels can be drawn between Pakistan’s win in the T20 World Cup in England. It was a win which gave the much needed jolt of joy and relief to the entire population.
As Spain came through a bruising war of attrition against the Dutch in the final, they also showed the world that football can be won through normal tactics. It is ironic that they were playing against the inventors of ‘Total Football’ in the final who had cast off their tags in order to show a more pragmatic approach. While Spain's ‘tiki-taka’ might not be as dynamic as the grand-old Dutch way of ‘Total Football’, it has definitely been influenced by that. Spain has borrowed a lot from Dutch football in the last two decades, most of all, the dictum of "pass, receive, pass" where patterns of football appear in triangles and are recreated in many different parts of the pitch until the goal is finally scored. ‘Total Football’ was not just meant to be pretty. It was meant to win games. What the Spanish have added to this tactic is their skill on the ball and artistry to make possession a two-pronged strategy. Not only is it an attacking philosophy, it has also been transformed into a defensive one as well. A higher ball possession means that Spain has more chances to score and create opportunities. It also means that Spain's opponent cannot do much when the ball is in such pristine control. Only Jose Mourinho's defensive "park the bus", defending/playing without the ball strategy has overcome the ‘tiki-taka’ in recent years, when Inter Milan swept aside Barcelona on their way to Champions League glory. Mourinho had drilled his team to play without the ball and this was how he was able to defeat a more skilled and talented team. Switzerland managed to do something of the sort against Spain in the first match. What will now be interesting is how the teams face up to the newly-crowned champions. Will they concede to Mourinho's way or will they try and find something new? This debate on the new philosophy of football will be intriguing in the years to come.
For now though, one must revel in Andres Iniesta's winner and Spain's ultimate victory. Iniesta himself has been so massively underrated in so many quarters that it is only fitting that his name will go down in history as the one who scored the winning goal for Spain. Iniesta deserves it for despite his massive ability, he has remained humble throughout his career. Xavi and Iniesta have been the corner stone of Barcelona and Spain in the last few years who have now tasted victory in all forms of football. These players deserved it because they might not be flashy in their technique but they are certainly one of the best footballers ever.
Spain has been lucky to have them and global audiences have been lucky to witness Spain march in a beautiful way towards World Cup glory.
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