With Iniesta, an era ends for Spain

With Andres Iniesta, who retired from Spain duty on Sunday, a generation and a way of playing football may have, well, passed.

For years, Spain prided themselves on their possession-based game. At the heart of the idea were Barcelona mates Iniesta and Xavi, torch-bearers of tikitaka, a term that became part of football’s lexicon. Spain ruled football from 2008 to 2012 winning a World Cup on either side of two Euros.

Since then, La Roja have failed to make the quarter-finals of the three major tournaments they have played in. After Chile’s furious pace and their relentless pressing had Spain reeling, Xavi moved on in 2014. Like Iniesta against Russia on Sunday, the pass master had started on the bench at Rio’s Maracana.

Unlike against Chile, Spain had the lion’s share of the ball here. They completed 1031 passes which was two more than what Russia had made in four games. And yet they are going home with the gnawing feeling that relentless passing is a concept of limited effectiveness against teams that can organise their defence with five men and sit deep. Russia entered the quarter-finals making a mere 202 passes on Sunday.

SPAIN’S SHOTS OF INSIGNIFICANCE

Spain had 24 shots, nine on target, and yet goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev only had to make two saves of significance – one from Diego Costa in the first half and another from Iniesta in the second. Perhaps Iniesta’s introduction in the second half showed how Spain’s way of playing and that of their great conductor were on the wane.

Iniesta, the hero of the 2010 World Cup final, replaced David Silva. And though he isn’t the player he was eight years ago, Iniesta did introduce a sense of urgency. Though Spain piled on the pressure in extra-time, Russia held out in relative comfort.

The performance was in contrast to the Spanish sides of 20082012. With Xavi, Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Silva, Cesc Fabregas and Javi Martinez, among others in midfield, Spain dominated and delivered through tiki-taka. But when Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan famously defeated Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League semi-final, it was evident that there were ways around tiki-taka.

GUARDIOLA ADAPTS, SPAIN DO NOT

Guardiola subsequently adapted, at Bayern Munich and now at Manchester City. His City side got an injection of pace and is powerful on the flanks along with its ability to control the ball. In short, it is vastly different from the great Barcelona teams Guardiola developed.

Spain, however, haven’t evolved at the same pace. As their last three tournaments have shown, teams are more comfortable playing against Spain than they were a decade back. Like Germany, Spain too relied on the old guard. Apart from the retiring duo of Iniesta and Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Silva and Busquets have been part of the core in recent years. However, Thiago wasn’t called upon and neither was Saul Niguez, who has been everpresent in Atletico Madrid’s midfield for the past four seasons. Saul had managed just one start in Spain’s entire qualifying campaign.

PERSISTING WITH OLD GUARD FOR TOO LONG

During that successful campaign, four of the five players who got more than seven starts had been part of the 2010 World Cup. The fifth was goalkeeper David de Gea. Julen Lopetegui and Hierro kept the faith in the traditional system and an ageing set of players.

But the former lost his job and on Sunday, Hierro the chance to regain what Spain had tamely surrendered four years back.