Spain: watching the last dance

I’m not too concerned about appearing an old fogey when the first comparison I reach for to sum up the experience with Spain here in Brazil is Kipling. Famously his great work, If states that:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same…

Well, suffice to say that old Kipling, who made great cakes, thought that was a good human trait. I do too.
We came to see what Spain would make of their World Cup defence and, on the pitch, they made a hash of it.

However, when the bitter pill of humiliation was crunched between their teeth, what I liked, what added to my appreciation of this group, was that they reacted – to me at least – with just the same
professionalism, courtesy, friendliness and commitment that I’d seen in epoch-making victory.

Players interested in questions… players willing to face them in the first place. Following the defeats by Holland and Chile, big guns like Sergio Ramos, Fernando Torres and Iker Casillas stopped and confronted humiliation front on. They didn’t skulk and hide, or take the huff. I know that should be the norm, but believe me it’s not.

I’ve seen a Spain group which is still pretty bewildered by what’s happened. They have worked and trained with the same degree of technical excellence (until the last couple of days at least!) as I saw in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Speaking to them over and again, on and off the record, I’m convinced that they’ll need time to assimilate what’s happened.
I’ve some ideas about that, and there has been sufficient access, travelling and living with the team in some cities, to feel sure of what has changed between the three tournaments.

There have been far fewer of their families here. There has been far, far less time off to disengage with the tournament. There have been no double-session days.
Fans? Hard to spot them. They’ve been here, but not at the training ground – not once – and Spain lost the Chile match from the anthem in the Maracana.

As an experience the Maracana was remarkable. The degree of desire and of rabid hunger for victory exhibited by what felt like around 80,000 Chileans screaming their team on was electric. Often, in my profession, you are asked to try to elicit from players what they feel about an intimidating atmosphere – what strength they can gain from constant, uproarious backing. Usually, particularly in Europe, the atmosphere is loud but sanitised. No hint of the outlaw, no real naked, crackling aggression. Against Chile that’s what it was like, right from the hilarious moment that around 50 of them crashed through the media centre trying to break into the ground without tickets.
I’m all too aware of what fan movements like that can do in extremis. Fatalities can result. But this was contained, non threatening and comical to watch. More of that in the Spain book when it’s re-issued and re-vamped in the autumn.
To see chunks of the stadium, carrying 30,000 people, bobbing up and down while the chanting reached fever pitch was superb and nobody will ever convince me that it wasn’t a super charge for the South American Roja.

It’s been a tournament of extremes – from the dank, fading grandeur of Spain’s training base hired from Atletico Paranaense to the utter splendour of their Ipanema/Leblon Sheraton hotel right on the beach in Rio, via the troop invasion of stadia in preparation for the social protests which nibbled around the edges of Spain’s World Cup – but never bit.

Breakfast at the Spain base in Rio - nice work if you can get it
Breakfast at the Spain base in Rio – nice work if you can get it

An old hero of the tale of this team’s adventures, Manolo el del Bombo, had his tribulations now like never before. He was banned from playing his famous drum in the Maracana, he had it stripped off him at half time in Salvador. For the superstitious, it’s worth pointing out that he stopped playing at 1-1 in Spain’s first game and didn’t bang again until the rout was complete. Obviously, that’s the first point of assessment in the post mortem.

During this football fest, so enjoyable for almost everything else (certainly on the pitch) two key things happened. There was a gentle move away from Spain being a 23-man team to one where some of those not playing began to feel let down and unsure of why they were there.
Secondly, Spain moved from being predator to prey. For years they complained that the majority of teams didn’t want to dance – that they parked the bus and simply tried to clog up the game. By the time the opponents found their boogie, Spain were only ready to waltz.
It happens. This is the end for David Villa and I don’t really expect to see Xavi, Xabi Alonso and perhaps even Iker Casillas again – although it would be a desperate mistake for Iker to retire from international football now.
Then there’s the Mister. He has enjoyed this less. His friendship and his canny, humorous asides in the off-the-record moments we have shared here have helped make my tournament – again. What a gent.
He didn’t make as many spot-on judgements as Spain have proved to need – but in his defence no international manager has ever had so much cause to be loyal to any players.

Here I am now in Curitiba watching the moronic wave less than quarter of an hour into an intriguing and hard-fought final match. A match played on a painted tattie field of a pitch. The victories of the last three tournaments were sweet, fun to witness at first hand and educational. This has been too – less fun, but probably still more educational.

The team lines for the last game, and the last time we will see a few of these famous names.
The teams for the last game, and the last time we’ll see a few of these famous names.

Last words. Spain’s playing philosophy hasn’t been undermined or overtaken. This playing group has just gone an inch or two beyond where it probably should have done. That’s no sin, just a shame. Time passes and it is to football’s glory that we are watching a front-foot, highly athletic but nonetheless terrifically technical tournament.

Turn the page, keep reading. Football’s script is always worth it.

Graham. 23.6.14

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