Vicente Del Bosque is a wise man,generally understated in public who does not believe in courting controversy But even he must be finding it somewhat irritating to find himself having to defend La Roja’s reputation from its critics. Boring, they say. A lesser man, like Jose Mourinho would have no doubt thrown not just one tantrum by now, but several.
The fact is that La Roja is a match away from setting a new record in world football. Success in Sunday’s final would mean that it will become the first national team ever to have won two Euro championships in a row, and World Cup. Spain will confirm its claim to being the best football nation in the world.
Its progress in this tournament has been not by default but by sticking firmly to its style of play, however rough and fatigued the tiqui-taca has seemed at times. La Roja may have not destroyed its opponents, but it has shown its capacity to control them and prevail despite being identified at the outset as the team all the others had to to find ways of beating. It owes its unbeaten record to a combination of factors among which I would identify quality, endurance, and self-belief, all measures of a true champion.
And yet the problem of being champion is that you are expected to play as champions in every game as if players were gods not ordinary mortals subject to bad moods and bad luck and periods of mental and physical pain,which may be hidden from the public but which Del Bosque knows about and throws into his calculations.
Against Portugal last night, La Roja succeeded in reducing the best player in the tournament to his worst. Ronaldo played selfishly and inaccurately, his performance marked more by negative theatrics than by genuine skill. Alongside this narcissist, the majority of the Portuguese team seemed to be playing to a battle plan set under advice from Mourinho, Spanish football’s agent provocateur. The tactics would have undermined a lesser team. La Roja for a while lost its rhythm, its passing and possession losing its apparent capacity to remain fluid and deliver. But then , somewhat belatedly in extra time,it rallied and played some of the best football in the tournament. To have lost on penalties, would have been a travesty of justice. La Roja remains the national team that generates most lines of comment, and is followed by the biggest world wide audience, and deservedly so.
In each game of this tournament , Del Bosque has selected a team that generally has risen to the challenge of defending their title, with intelligent substitutions made around which the team have rallied. There were parts of the crowd yesterday -a combination of Portuguese and Mourinho Real Madrid die-hards -who whistled La Roja‘s passing game. Late they fell silent, and millions of fans celebrated another Spanish victory and the fact that Del Bosque had kept the faith.
Vicente Del Bosque is a wise man,generally understated in public who does not believe in courting controversy But even he must be finding it somewhat irritating to find himself having to defend La Roja’s reputation from its critics. Boring, they say. A lesser man, like Jose Mourinho would have no doubt thrown not just one tantrum by now, but several.
The fact is that La Roja is a match away from setting a new record in world football. Success in Sunday’s final would mean that it will become the first national team ever to have won three Euro championships in a row, and World Cup. Spain will confirm its claim to being the best football nation in the world.
Even if it fails to win,its progress in this tournament has been not by default but by sticking firmly to its style of play, however rough and fatigued the tiqui-taca has seemed at times. La Roja may have not destroyed its opponents, but it has shown its capacity to control them and prevail despite being identified at the outset as the team all the others had to to find ways of beating. It owes its unbeaten record to a combination of factors among which I would identify quality, endurance, and self-belief, all measures of a true champion.
And yet the problem of being champion is that you are expected to play as champions in every game as if players were gods not ordinary mortals subject to bad moods and bad luck and periods of mental and physical pain,which may be hidden from the public but which Del Bosque knows about and throws into his calculations.
Against Portugal last night, La Roja succeeded in reducing the best player in the tournament to his worst. Ronaldo played selfishly and inaccurately, his performance marked more by negative theatrics than by genuine skill. Alongside this narcissist, the majority of the Portuguese team seemed to be playing to a battle plan set under advice from Mourinho, Spanish football’s agent provocateur. The tactics would have undermined a lesser team. La Roja for a while lost its rhythm, its passing and possession losing its apparent capacity to remain fluid and deliver. But then , somewhat belatedly in extra time,it rallied and played some of the best football in the tournament. To have lost on penalties, would have been a travesty of justice. La Roja remains the national team that generates most lines of comment, and is followed by the biggest world wide audience, and deservedly so.
In each game of this tournament , Del Bosque has selected a team that generally has risen to the challenge of defending their title, with intelligent substitutions made around which the team have rallied. There were parts of the crowd yesterday -a combination of Portuguese and Mourinho Real Madrid die-hards -who whistled La Roja‘s passing game. Late they fell silent, and millions of fans celebrated another Spanish victory and the fact that Del Bosque has kept the faith.
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