By El Maestro
The World Cup always offers a lot of excitement and drama, and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was no different. It had great teams (Germany, Netherlands and France), good teams (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Switzerland, Belgium and Colombia), surprise teams (Greece, Algeria and Mexico), a Cinderella team (Costa Rica) and disappointing teams (Italy, England and Russia). However, what was probably the biggest shock of the competition was Spain’s elimination in the group stage six days into the tournament. Despite all the negative things I’ve said about this squad, I wish I could say I saw this coming, but then I’d be lying. I didn’t think Spain was going to win the World Cup, but I certainly thought they had enough to get out of the group. I did personally predict (although it is not written) that Chile would go through and would eliminate whoever lost the Spain-Netherlands match. Regardless, Spain’s elimination did not surprise me one bit. I expected them to get out of the group, but I would not have been shocked with an early exit after seeing the squad Del Bosque assembled for the World Cup. To make matters worse, Spain will more than likely go down as the worst defending World Cup champions in history since the 2002 French side and the 2010 Italy squad at least went into their last fixtures with chances of going through.
To be fair, a portion of the blame does reside on the federation for picking Curitiba (cold temperatures) as the training base when Spain’s first two games were going to be played in hot and humid cities. However, the main person responsible for selecting this squad and not being aware of the weather in Brazil is Vicente Del Bosque. Many blame him for the team he called for the World Cup, but Spain’s failure really came as an account of his unwillingness to make any adjustment to the squad throughout the two year qualification process. After the 2012 Euro, it was clear changes needed to be made to improve the national team going into 2014. For starters, Xavi was going to 34 before the World Cup and a younger midfielder needed to come in from the beginning to take over (Thiago, Koke, Ander Herrera or Borja Valero). Casillas was going to be 33, which is still a good age for a keeper, but it would have been good to start calling De Gea to the first team since he is the future for Spain and had started to show his talent at Manchester United. It was also crucial for Del Bosque to solve the striker position since Villa was coming off a long term injury and Torres was no where near the player he was before at Liverpool. Despite the clear signs, ‘El Bigoton’ refused to make any changes whatsoever and continued to call the same players that made Spain World Cup and 2-time Euro champions. If there is an explanation for Spain’s debacle, it’s because Del Bosque chose to be loyal instead of doing what was best for the team. Although this group won a lot for Spain, there were many regulars that were out of form and did not deserve to be called up. To add insult to injury, no one can defend that there was a lack of talent because if there’s anything Spain does not lack, it’s talent. In fact, Italy, England and even Brazil would kill to have at least a quarter of the talent Spain has. There were several notable top players that were in great form throughout the qualification process and were more deserving of the call up, but were left out.
Xavi was a train wreck his last two seasons at Barcelona; Pique is a shadow of the player he was before Puyol’s injury; Cesc was a disaster this last season; Pedro and Javi Martínez were in and out of the lineup; Reina was a joke his last two seasons at Liverpool and Albiol was not always starting at Madrid (although both had a good season with Napoli); Mata did not have a good season at Chelsea (before the transfer) and Manchester United; Villa had lost three steps; Torres was the same under performing striker since he arrived at Chelsea in January 2011 and Casillas had only played a combine 23 games in the last 18 months. Meanwhile, De Gea was finally sticking out at Man U; Iñigo Martínez was proving his worth at Real Sociedad; Alberto Moreno had an outstanding season with Sevilla; Ander Herrera was leading Bilbao’s midfield and almost signed for Manchester United last summer; Borja Valero is one of Fiorentina’s key players; Gabi, Raúl García and Koke helped lead Atlético to the league title and Champions League Final; Soldado scored 30 goals his last season at Valencia; Michu 22 in his first season with Swansea, Negredo 31 his last season Sevilla and 23 at Manchester City; Llorente 18 at Juventus and even Aduriz managed to score more than Torres and Villa by netting in 18 total goals to help lead Athletic Bilbao to the 4th place position in La Liga this past season.
Quick Memo: I’m not saying these are the players that should have been on the World Cup squad, but they should have been more involved throughout the qualification process.
What probably should have been the indicator that things were not going to go well was last years Confederations Cup; when Del Bosque called and started Casillas for the important games. I don’t care what excuses people tell me, Iker did not play a game from January to May 2013. In my opinion, players should be selected based on their forms with their club sides; and if you’re not playing, you’re not worthy of the call up. Forgetting about Victor Valdes (5 time Zamora winner), De Gea (stood out at United), Reina (at played during that period) and even the keeper that took Iker’s spot named Diego López. It’s his opinion if he believes Casillas is the best Spanish keeper, but it’s not the end of the world if he can’t play because Valdes, De Gea and Diego López have all proven that they are equally as good. He also took Reina, Villa and Torres, and then got hammered 3-0 in the final to a Brazil side that was humiliated by Germany 1-7 in the World Cup a year later. His WC selections were equally as controversial with Casillas starting after only playing Copa and Champions League games, Diego López being left out, De Gea going due to Valdes’ injury, Arbeloa be excluded for “sporting reasons” and players like Pedro, Villa and Torres being included instead of Callejón, Negredo and Llorente. It looked like a recipe for disaster and it all blew up in Del Bosque’s face during the 1-5 lost to Netherlands.
Del Bosque 2016: I’m not thrilled with his decision nor with the timing, but that will be for another day. I do want to say that I’m not going to jump to conclusion just yet. I really want to see what he does for the international fixtures in September. If it includes some important changes, maybe there’s hope after all. However, if a lot of the same veteran and under performing players continue to come in, then we may see more of the same in the future.
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