adminRIO DE JANEIRO. — “Disaster”, “failure” and “humiliation” were among the words used by the Spanish press after their side’s World Cup soccer title defence began with a heavy loss to the Netherlands.
Yet there is only one way to describe Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Chile, which sees Vicente Del Bosque’s team eliminated with a game of the group stage still to play: the end.
The end of an unprecedented era of dominance that so captivated the global game, the end of a golden generation of players who dared, succeeded, thrilled and inspired.
This night will go down in football history as the night the tiki-taka trailblazers bade farewell. The denouement was always going to arrive at some point, but few expected it to come with such alarming speed and in such unceremonious fashion. First-round knock-out.
Alarm bells started to ring when they were beaten by Brazil in the Confederations Cup final a year ago, also here in the Maracana. Explanations were given, judgments reserved.
Nor did Barcelona’s poor season bode well; this is the club from where Spain take their stylistic lead, with seven of Barca’s stars included in the 23-man squad and all of them featuring against the Netherlands.
Another seven came from Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid; both had impressive campaigns, but their involvement in the Champions League final made for weary legs.
“How many of the Spain players have lived up to who they are and played to their top form?” asked Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis on BBC Radio 5 live.
“Whether that was because their season has finished later than most I’m not sure. I really wanted them to do well at this World Cup. I feel for Del Bosque – one of the great managers.”
We knew when Spain landed in Brazil that they were nearing the end of a cycle and faced an incredibly difficult task to be become the first Europeans to win a World Cup in South America.
What we did not anticipate was the Dutch handing out a 5-1 drubbing, the heaviest defeat suffered by World Cup winners at the following tournament, or the Chileans dispatching them so clinically.
In all, except brief periods of the first half versus the Netherlands, Spain have looked a shadow of their old self — their control, movement and passing unrecognisable from the not too distant past.
Against Chile, they posted their lowest passing accuracy in a World Cup game (81.7%) since a quarter-final loss to South Korea in 2002 and Andres Iniesta attempted the fewest passes (52) in the eight World Cup matches in which he has played a full 90 minutes.
Spain lost 152 balls to Chile’s 141, making 62 recoveries compared to 71, and despite attempting five more tackles than Jorge Sampaoli’s men their success rate was 13% lower. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter