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
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It is a morning at the movies, but without the popcorn. Paraguay are the main attraction and Spain’s video editor, Pablo Pena, has been splicing together the best cuts which go with the analysis Paco Jiménez and Antonio Fernández have brought back from scouting the South Americans’ penalty shoot-out win over Japan.
Spain’s players felt liberated against Portugal, much less tense in a knockout situation than throughout Group H. In their view it has been their best, most fluent and most attacking performance. FIFA’s match report bears that out: 19 efforts at goal and 10 of them on target.
The video shows that Paraguay like to smother opposition and force their three lines tightly together; this looks like it will be something similar to the bruising experience against Chile, but without the 15 minutes played under a white flag.
What has emerged is that Spain do not stick firmly to the 4-2-3-1 formation. Alonso will liberate himself by 10 or 15 metres, Busquets will cover. Iniesta will come in off the right wing and often an offensive trio of Alonso, Xavi and Iniesta will be searching behind Torres and Villa in an urgent quest for space. The final frontier.
However, while Iniesta has been injured or recovering and while teams set out to frustrate and foul Spain, there has been huge responsibility on Xavi’s shoulders. Whatever the formation, his position is not identical to the one he plays for FC Barcelona. Nor is he seeing so much of the ball. Often possession is coming to him either with his back to goal or when he is on the half-turn. He is being asked to play slightly more like Iniesta does, in the same spaces with the same lack of time, not always facing the play – looking for space rather than creating it by conducting the flow of the ball. He was rewarded with a man-of-the-match citation against Portugal, but still there is widespread preoccupation that perhaps he could perform better and that he looks troubled, unhappy even.
“Even the boss has checked with me that I’m okay,” he admits. “People think I’m tense, but it’s just that I’m intense.”