World champions Spain humbled in Argentina, but don’t read too much into it
In Glasgow last night, Scotland were leaving it as late as they possibly could to beat Liechtenstein. In Prague, the Czech Republic were losing 1-0 at home to Lithuania.
They were hardly results to worry the only other team in Euro 2012 Qualifying Group I, the overwhelming favourites and world champions Spain. Over in Buenos Aires however, there was a scoreline that would have concerned them.
The Spanish were beaten 4-1 by Argentina in a friendly in front of 53,000 at River Plate’s intimidating El Monumental stadium last night.
As a statement from the post-Diego Maradona Argentina it could barely have been better. Sergio Batista – still officially regarded as a caretaker manager – led his side to a crushing victory over the world champions, scoring four goals in the process, reversing what happened the last time they faced a top-level European side – their embarrassing 4-0 World Cup quarter-final loss to Germany.
He’ll get the job full time soon. As for Spain and Vicente del Bosque, there will be concerns, but the memories of Johannesburg and Andrés Iniesta’s extra-time winner are still too strong for this defeat to really register.
Iker Casillas, Fernando Torres and Sergio Ramos sat on the bench in Buenos Aires, unused, while Carles Puyol wasn’t even there.
Argentina’s incomparable attacking quartet of Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tévez and Diego Milito swarmed all over the Spanish. All but the latter scored – Tévez was given a huge helping hand by Pepe Reina’s comedy pratfall – but things could have been different had Spain not struck the woodwork twice in the first half. The visitors actually had more of the ball.
Given the relative ease of their Euro 2012 qualification group – there are no Argentinas here – it is conceivable that the Spanish will win each and every one of their matches on the road to Poland and the Ukraine in two years’ time.
Scotland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Liechtenstein should be of little concern to them – even if the Scots do keep playing until the 97th minute – and perhaps the defeat in Buenos Aires will serve to bring them down to earth ahead of the forthcoming qualifiers. They are world champions yes, but they are not invincible.
Just as a couple of good wins doesn’t automatically make a team world-beaters overnight – England take note – so one defeat shouldn’t shatter all of Spain’s good work.
Reina apologised and accepted full responsibility for his error, stating that he’ll learn from it, and his boss Del Bosque was philosophical too. “We have the dignity to lose, the team never gave up and we had courage to keep going in search of goals,” he said.
“These defeats hurt of course, but we should learn from them. We can't believe that we will always win.”
No-one can, not even the world champions, and learning from your defeats is an often underestimated quality.
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