Day 12, World Cup 2010: “If I came back as a footballer, I’d be Busquets”

Running right alongside Brazil 2014, this is my day-by-day story of how Spain won the last World Cup. You can catch up on previous posts.

These stories are from Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble, by Graham Hunter

Del Bosque speaks to all the Spanish media who have travelled to South Africa without having bought broadcast rights for the games or without a guarantee that they will get match accreditations to report from the stadia. It is typical of the Spain manager to be just as accommodating after yesterday’s victory over Honduras, which would have bought him private time, as after a defeat which required deflecting. Perhaps more stinging words from Luis Aragonés helped propel him forward. El Sabio de Hortaleza comments, post-match, for Al Jazeera: “Performing like this they won’t get far. I didn’t like it much. Xavi is being played out of position.”

“We can’t live on past achievements,” is the nearest Del Bosque gets to a retort. In private, he is totally sanguine about what his predecessor is saying, as are his players.

Post-tournament, one or two senior players who are alumni of the class of Euro 2008 will reveal that they take time to think about what Aragonés is saying: not promoting his words over those of Del Bosque, choosing, instead, to not be stung by his criticisms but to examine them. Xavi and Torres believe that it is healthy to read between the lines rather than take Aragonés’ criticism solely at face value. They reckon their old maestro is simply incentivising them from afar. Whether they are right or wrong, it is a positive way to treat the experience.

Pensamientos positivos, as a certain grumpy old man used to growl.

Meanwhile, Busquets receives the most emphatic public support from his coach. Del Bosque tells his impromptu audience: “If I came back as a footballer once again I’d prefer to be [like] Sergio Busquets. He does everything, he’s continually at the disposition of the rest of the team; he’s a generous player, he just gives everything defensively and what’s more he’s usually the first to re-start our forward movements. When Busi is on form, the quality of our football is more fluid, quicker.”

 

Read Next Day 11, World Cup 2010: Spain 2 Honduras 0 Read Next Spain: watching the last dance