A new Spain is born in Germany 2024. Although, in reality, it had begun to be born in Qatar 2022.
The cult of the ball, symbol of the best Spain of all time, twice European champion (2008 and 2012), on the roof of the world in South Africa (2010), has been reinvented in Germany 2024. It was coincidentally the night in which La Roja’s winning cycle began, when it won the Euro 2008 final against Germany (1-0), the last time the team had been left without more possession than its rival: 46%. Since then, 136 games had passed and, with their nuances in the game, the teams of Del Bosque (an average of 65%), Lopetegui (67%), Hierro (75%), Robert Moreno (73%) and Luis Enrique (72%) had not lost the ball in any of their duels. Neither had De la Fuente’s team (68%). Until Croatia appeared (54% for the Balkans). The result, however, 3-0 for La Roja.
Heir to Sergio Busquets in Spain’s midfield, Pep Guardiola’s protégé at Manchester City, Rodri warned of the paradigm shift before the debut against Croatia. “The style?” questioned the team’s football leader; “It is the one that leads you to win, no more and no less.” And, in case there was any doubt, he finished: “I don’t understand styles. Each rival is different and plays differently. It is a mistake to think that one style is going to lead you to win. “You have to adapt to different moments and rivals.”
To understand Rodri’s words you have to go back to Qatar. La Roja was eliminated against Morocco: 0-0 (0-3 in the penalty shootout) after keeping the ball for 77% of the time and distributing 1,019 passes. “We have created enough opportunities to win,” Luis Enrique justified, after counting 13 shots, only one between the three posts. A deja vu of what had happened to La Roja four years ago in Russia at that time with Fernando Hierro on the bench. The host also eliminated Spain in the penalty roulette: 23 shots, nine on goal, one goal. Possession: 79%.
After the fiasco in Moscow, Luis Enrique took charge of La Roja with a promising resume: he seemed capable of giving a twist to the style as he had already done at Barça, without any guilt by surrendering to the offensive power of Neymar, Luis Suárez and Messi. “We have given up on our style,” complained one of the heavyweights in the locker room, after being eliminated against Juve in the 2017 Champions League quarterfinals. According to what they say at the Barça club, this interpretation was encouraged by Xavi since Qatar. “That is why,” explain sources from the Catalan entity, “that Lucho hit Xavi in the tie between PSG and Barça. He had it saved for him.” “I represent Barcelona’s style better than Xavi, without a doubt,” Luis Enrique said.
However, when he landed in La Roja, Luis Enrique opted for rhetorical football, far from giving in to improvisation in attack as he had done at Barça with Neymar and Messi. True to his style, he opted for his idea without gray: so fundamentalist about the control of the game that he even placed a walkie-talkie on his players’ backs during training. He was convinced: “Spain is not going to die of fear. There is no doubt about what you are going to see: dominate your rival and generate more than them. That is what we will do in Qatar.”
He was not afraid; lack of plan B, yes. Spain overwhelmed Costa Rica (7-1), but Germany got stuck (1-1). After the tie, alarm bells went off in the Federation. Luis Enrique arrived at La Roja’s bunker in Qatar indignant with Laporte. “I wanted to kill him because he had played a long ball straight to the winger. He told us that he wasn’t going to play any more minutes. Luckily we were able to convince him to change his mind. There’s nothing wrong with getting out quickly when you’re under a lot of pressure,” they explained, at the time, in the Federation.
Then came the elimination against Morocco and the final point for Luis Enrique: football fatigue. “He had options to place fast players like Nico (Williams), Ansu (Fati) and Yeremi Pino and he always insisted on the same thing,” the same sources recalled.
The alternative to Luis Enrique was in Las Rozas. Albert Luque, then sports director, spoke with the person in charge of the RFEF at that time: Luis Rubiales. “De la Fuente, listen to me,” he suggested; “He likes to have possession, but he understands that sometimes you have to play direct. What we lack, Luis will give it to us.”
another script
In his first appearance, De la Fuente anticipated what a year and a half later would be seen in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin: “I have my script and I will apply my nuances”, “I like to dominate the game, run into spaces… have a complete team that has different records”, “we have to interpret the update that football is experiencing”. And this is how Spain played against Croatia.
“If we have players with the speed of Lamine, Nico, Ferran or Ayoze it makes no sense for us to give up those options. The footballers know that in that type of game we are also very dangerous,” De la Fuente celebrated, after the win. According to his staff, the plan had gone perfectly: Spain dominated, counterattacked, enjoyed and even suffered. De la Fuente knows that in the open field and with less control of the ball, Unai Simón will have work: Croatia finished 16 times (five on goal) compared to Spain’s 11 (five). “We are turning the team into a team with many records and the rivals know that we can hurt them with possession, with more elaborate and positional attacks, or also, if they give us options, we run very fast,” concluded the coach.
Less romantic, more pragmatic, a new Spain is born in Germany.
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