World Cup: Are Spain boring?

Three knockout matches, three 1-0 wins. A preference for patient ball retention over “bodies in the box”. A lack “out & out wingers” pinging over cross after cross.

If you’re used to watching Spurs or Manchester United, you might think this is all a bit one-dimensional. You know, in the same way that Arsenal always want one pass too many, or just aren’t ruthless enough.

But does this make it boring? Alan Shearer certainly thought so at half time of Spain’s semi-final victory over Germany. Ok, so perhaps Shearer is not the best example of insightful punditry that we could call upon.

Barney Ronay recently wrote on this subject:

But still the feeling persists that this is an oddly frictionless excellence; that Spain play a kind of platinum-selling dinner party football – Coldplay Football – that is clearly and undeniably high spec, but also devoid of jarringly revelatory spikes and twists. Playing against Spain must feel a little like playing a chess computer: strangled, impotent, you gawp helplessly at its robotic grace.

There is certainly a defensive aspect to much of what Spain do under Vicente del Bosque. By retaining so much of the possession, they protect themselves. Attack is not necessarily the best form of defence any longer.

The use of two holding midfielders, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets, is a further insurance policy. It proved a very important part of stifling the German attacking threat, and Mesut Oezil in particular.

Safe in the knowledge that he had help, Busquets was able to shadow Oezil all over the pitch for most of the game.

Watching the Premier League and then watching Spain at this World Cup is likely to induce a culture shock. Not even Arsenal are able to control a game in the way that Spain can.

Partly this is due to the Premier League’s frenetic style of play, and partly because Arsenal do not possess players like Xavi Hernandes or Andres Iniesta.

We are so used to watching a style of play that imitates pinball that anything else is dismissed as dull, boring.

But this is not really true. The fact is that you have to pay more attention, but if you truly study what Spain do, it is fascinating to watch.

During the first hour of the semi-final, Spain were content to control the play and limit the opposition. They were only playing at something like 75%, keeping Germany at arms length whilst still forcing them to use up their energy levels to keep them out.

After the sixty minute mark, Spain went up a gear. Their tempo increased, they became more incisive and almost immediately began creating chances. It was such a distinct and immediate change that it could only have been deliberate.

Then they scored, oddly enough from a set piece. Game over. Spain have won 42 consecutive games in which they have scored first, an incredible sequence stretching over four years since David Healy’s hattrick for Northern Ireland.

To think that not once in that period have they been pegged back by an equaliser and held to a draw is amazing. If they score first, they will win, it’s as simple as that.

Yes, there is a machine-like quality to the level of performance that Spain so consistently produce, but that does not make it boring.

Yes, they will often string 20 passes together in midfield without looking particularly ambitious, but that does not make it boring either.

Spain regularly score beautiful goals, construct breathtaking passing combinations, draw intricate patterns all over the pitch.

It is their ability to do exactly this – to keep possession at will, regardless of the efforts of their opponents – that is so interesting to watch.

To say that the Spanish tiki-taka style is boring compared to the kick and rush stylings of English football is akin to saying that Vivaldi is boring compared to Arctic Monkeys. It all depends on how you listen.

Occasionally Spain are beaten, as against Switzerland, by a resolute defense and an unlucky goal. One day they will either find themselves against an opponent who figures out how to dominate them, or they may simply fade back into the masses as all great teams do.

But if Spain win this World Cup to add to their European title, they will be remembered as one of the very greatest teams, the apeothosis of current tactical trends.

Predictable, maybe, but certainly not boring.