Did Spain's golden generation finally pass itself to death in Russia?

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This was published 5 years ago

Did Spain's golden generation finally pass itself to death in Russia?

By Sam Wallace
Best years gone: Andres Iniesta and Iago Aspas kiss their 2018 World Cup hopes goodbye.

Best years gone: Andres Iniesta and Iago Aspas kiss their 2018 World Cup hopes goodbye.Credit: AP

It started as one of Spain's typical grand passing rondos, it grew over 90 minutes and then 120 into one of the biggest mountains of possession amassed since World Cup records began, and by the end it felt like this great generation of players had run out of fresh ideas.

This was the remnants of the great world champions of 2010 passing the ball 1,114 times in a match but unable to score more goals than a Russia team who refused to be passed to death in the way that so many opponents have in the past.

By the end Andres Iniesta looked close to tears, Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos had been beaten again and the master plan that had seen Spain dominate the first decade of the century looked more than a little tired.

The host nation held out in the teeth of 71 per cent Spanish possession, exhausting conditions and fewer Spanish efforts on goal than you might expect, to survive at 1-1 and take the tie to a penalty shoot-out.

Russia had managed just one attempt on target before their first penalty taker, the substitute Fyodor Smolov stepped up to level the shoot-out at 1-1 and the next three Russians followed suit while Spanish nerves wobbled and broke.

It sends Russia 2018 down a route that few predicted, with one half of the draw encompassing just one nation that has won this tournament in its history - that being England. Germany, Argentina and now Spain - seven World Cups between them - are out and there is a chance for someone new to contest the final on July 15. This was a dreadful game but the drama of the ending and its significance for the Russian people meant none of that in the stands of the Luzhniki.

Tidy: Isco looked the part but lacked the necessary cutting edge.

Tidy: Isco looked the part but lacked the necessary cutting edge.Credit: AP

They had kept their cool from the penalty spot while the technicians of the Spain team had lost theirs, first Koke and then Iago Aspas, having their penalties saved by Igor Akinfeev. Afterwards, the inquest around Fernando Hierro went from his late replacing of Julen Lopetegui to his decision not to start Iniesta against Russia and his substitution of Diego Costa.

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Ever since his appointment three days before the World Cup, the Spanish federation's technical director has looked like that particular kind of holidaymaker who wants to go home from the minute he arrives. No-one was to blame, Hierro insisted, Iniesta was a great professional, he was proud of the players and they could leave with their heads held high. They were the banal, non-committal views of an accidental manager who, in his mind, was already handing over his passport and boarding pass.

But something has changed for Spain, whatever doubts one might entertain about the extraordinary distances covered by Stanislas Cherchesov's Russia side in the course of their three victories at this World Cup. The old days of tiki-taka's preeminence delivered a performance in which the first shot on target from a Spanish player – Sergey Ignashevich's 11th-minute own goal came off the back of his leg – came on 45 minutes. As for Spain's possession, it was more sterile than the team doctor's needles.

Wasted: Spain had 71 per cent of possession but couldn't convert that into goals.

Wasted: Spain had 71 per cent of possession but couldn't convert that into goals.Credit: AP

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"In 2008, 2010 and 2012 we had the players we had and we played in a style no-one had before," Hierro said when asked about those great tournament-winning Spain teams and what had changed since then. "Now in 2018, many things have changed. Teams play with five at the back, there are direct balls and quick transitions. But we had the attitude that we wanted to build on what had given us success."

The basic principle of keeping the ball, denying the opposition ownership of it, and breaking them down is as sound now as it was in 2008 and 2010 so perhaps it is Spain's players who have got worse. Certainly, Isco looked very tidy without being incisive, Costa was isolated and David Silva was the first to be replaced.

When Ignashevich wrestled with Ramos for Marcos Asensio's cross on 11 minutes and deflected the ball in, Spain might have expected their opponents to abandon their conservative gameplan. Instead, Russia carried on defending the last third with barely an idea as to what to do with the ball when they did have it. The young winger Aleksandr Golovin was their most creative player and it was he who broke out to win the corner from which Gerard Pique handled the ball.

Hands down: Gerard Pique raises his arm to give away the equalising penalty in regular time.

Hands down: Gerard Pique raises his arm to give away the equalising penalty in regular time.Credit: AP

Artem Dzyuba's spot-kick gave Russia something to hang onto, and hang on they did. In the hospitality area, and in a giant armchair, sat the Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. No Vladimir Putin this time but it is hard to imagine the president risking attending the scene of a Russian defeat, especially in a country that barely seems to acknowledge it has ever suffered one. That said there was a jitteriness about Spain's players in the shoot-out, an acknowledgement that Spain had already failed at the part of the contest they were supposed to be good at.

David De Gea has made just one save in four matches at this tournament and it was not in the shoot-out where Smolorov, Ignashevich, Golovin and substitute Denis Cheryshev all beat him comfortably. Russia were in control and Spain collapsed very easily.

The Daily Telegraph

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