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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Vicente Del Bosque’s players are given most of the day off to go to the Bona Bona Safari in search of Africa’s fabled big five: elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos and buffalo. Right now victory is the endangered species.
After dinner, a meeting is called by Del Bosque and his director of football, Fernando Hierro. It is held in the cricket club: sufficiently far from the main accommodation that if there happens to be any harsh truths exchanged there will be no unnecessary witnesses.
This is a ‘Chatham House Rule’ get-together: even if some of the topic headings are going to be shared outside the room, there must be confidentiality around details and, above all, ‘who said what’. It means a stripping away of hierarchy; every voice has equal weight for the hour or so that they meet, before authority is restored. No grudges will be held and no subject is off limits.
Although there have been a handful of versions of the roll-call, I am content that present are: Del Bosque, Toni Grande, Hierro, Casillas, Xavi, Reina, Marchena, Torres and Alonso. What is also now clear is that the players are unified in telling Del Bosque that they wholly support his ideas, his playing scheme and are tranquil about the fact that defeat by Switzerland was simply an accident.
The manager wants it made clear, and disseminated, that not only will he not be altering the formation, nor will he be looking for scapegoats and there is no way he will bow to media pressure about changes. Nobody will be dropped in punishment.
Hierro tells the current players he has never seen such harmony and conviction in a Spain camp and that he is still completely confident that the team can achieve something great.
Del Bosque’s final message brings the meeting to an end: “We had to win six games to win the World Cup before that Switzerland result and we still only have to win six games.”
Vicente del Bosque: “It was a moment of intense analysis. I wanted to know the players’ opinions even though I had a firm view of how we should react. It was imperative not to single anyone out. In this world of football we all make mistakes, we all lose. If you look to blame as a remedy to that then we’ll all lose all the time. Just because of one defeat we weren’t going to start playing around with the team or the system which had brought us this far.
“The meeting helped to clear everyone’s heads, get them focused on what my decisions were and to quietly spread that word. We also managed to analyse one or two things about the football we played against Switzerland with a view to assimilating what we’d learned. I think it was unexpected that there would be no drastic changes but I was clear about the way forward.”