Spain: The Team That Owns the Ball
by JONATHAN CLEGG and MATTHEW FUTTERMAN, online.wsj.comJune 30th 2012 12:13 PM
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Soccer is a pretty simple game. Twenty-two players try to put a ball into a big net without using their hands.
But during Spain's historic run to the final of Euro 2012 Sunday in Kiev, La Roja has once again managed to make the game very complicated for its opponents. Try as they might to resist, one after another ultimately ends up submitting to the Spaniards' will, allowing Spain to dictate the pace, flow, and style of every match it plays.
Spanish midfielder Xavi Hernandez
Even more remarkable than Spain's dominance the past four years—Spain has lost just once in the Euro and the World Cup since 2008—has been its ability to play each match on its own terms, using its patient, "tiki-taka" (touch-touch) passing to control the match.
Spain may be the first team in history whose style has become so widely established and universally accepted that it has moved into the realm of an inviolable right, forcing opponents to abandon what works for them for a strategy that might stop the Spaniards.
"Every team knows that Spain keeps the ball very well, that we move it well," said Iker Casillas, the goalkeeper. "Against Spain, these teams do things they never used to, running and fighting like they never used to do."
As great as the other top teams in history were, opponents of Brazil in 1970, the great German and Dutch sides of the 1970s and France in the late 1990s still went down fighting in their own style. That option simply doesn't exist against Spain, thanks to its ability to turn top-level soccer into a glorified game of keepaway.
On Sunday the Euro 2012 tournament will conclude with a final game between the past two World Cup winners, Spain and Italy. WSJ's Matthew Futterman explains how Italy against all expectations made it into the final and why he thinks Spain will still win international soccer's second-most prestigious trophy. (Photo: Getty Images)
Long the dominant possession team in the world, Spain has made its greatest strength even stronger at Euro 2012. Spain has controlled the ball for 66.1% of its games so far, up from 65.2% at the 2010 World Cup and 56.6% at Euro 2008. In the past eight years, Spain has failed to win the possession battle just once—in its Euro 2008 final win over Germany, when the Spanish stayed back to protect a 1-0 lead.
"I usually say we have to adapt as little as possible to our opponents and play to our own strengths," said Laurent Blanc, the coach of France, which lost 2-0 to Spain in the quarterfinal. "The problem is that Spain have the ball 60% or 70% of the time. So for 70% of the game, you have to adapt because they have the ball and you don't."
Euro 2012: Road to the Finals
Italy's Mario Balotelli scores during their Euro 2012 semi-final soccer match against Germany.
Ireland defender Richard Dunne, whose side endured a 4-0 Spanish drubbing in group play, said taking on Spain is little more than an exercise in exhaustion. "You get so spun around and the next thing you know they're sending it up the side and somebody's open," he said. "There's nothing you can do."
The great irony is Spain spent decades trying to impose its will on opponents through force, choosing to play a bruising, aggressive style that delivered just one major trophy (the 1964 European championship) in the 20th century.
Then, a little more than a decade ago, the national federation decided to adopt the technical, pass-happy approach and develop a group of incredibly small and fast players, who now impose their will on opponents like no team before.
Not everyone is a fan. Spain often appears to prefer tapping the ball around the middle of the field instead of attacking the goal. "We get criticized for our system," said coach Vincente del Bosque, "but we've won."
The problems Spain's possession poses have compelled some of the leading teams to abandon their usual game plans in favor of increasingly unorthodox methods to counteract the Spanish style. Pretty passers attempt to win ugly (Portugal). Attacking teams (Croatia) sit back on defense and become counterattacking ones. Some abandon attacking altogether (France, Ireland).
Italy used a three-man defense for the first and only time under coach Cesare Prandelli in its Euro opener against Spain, a 1-1 draw. Now Prandelli is faced with the tactical decision of a lifetime.
Prandelli has taken Italy this far by getting the Azzurri to play the sort of attacking, possession-oriented style that is far more appealing than the defensive approach Italy employed for years. The gifted, lightning-fast striker Mario Balotelli, who is just 21 years old, has helped those efforts, scoring three goals the past three games.
In their semifinal upset of Germany, the Italians caught the offensive-minded Germans napping twice in the first half and never looked back. But Spain is a different story. According to Castrol Edge statistics, Spain is averaging 691.5 passes per 90 minutes this tournament, the most in a Euro or World Cup since 1980, and 103.5 more than Spain averaged in the 2010 World Cup. Germany averaged 554.8 in the Euro.
Despite those numbers, Prandelli isn't likely to sacrifice quality for the final. He has preached the gospel of positive soccer for a month, declaring that to do well at the Euro, a team has to play the game beautifully, to not just be a disruptive force.
"I wanted to have a team that can improve game after game," he said, "a side that can play soccer."
Write to Jonathan Clegg at jonathan.clegg@wsj.com and Matthew Futterman at matthew.futterman@wsj.com
Original Page: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303561504577497082780959736.html?mod=e2tw
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