Spain have now wrote themselves in the history books for winning 3 major titles in a row, an incredible feat considering the true toughness of football now a days. Not only that, they have played a form of football that has blown away supporters in true brilliance and has often been mentioned as the right way to play the game. For some reason people are now going back on their words about Spain and that word "Boring" has been mentioned. I have never in my life heard such nonsense, well apart from every single Joey Barton tweet on twitter.
To be called boring for playing with no strikers is a ridiculous excuse as well. They did play a striker, they playerd Fabregas as the forward and had a ridiculous amount of support from the rest of the team going forward. Constant forward runs were executed by many of the team, notably seen in the final with David Silvas goal supporting Fabregas and Jordi Alba's goal. This goal I have to mention as one of the best goals you will ever see. What I mean by that is the overall build up to it. Spain refusing to kick the ball long, something so many teams do when their being closed down at the back. They stuck to their guns and played the ball around at the back to ensure they gave someone a bit more time. That was their keeper, Casilias, who proved that he was just as good on the ball and picked out a great ball up field. The goal came from all this and Xavi's pass to release Alba was nothing short of perfection. The right way of playing the game.
As a football coach myself, I never ever encourage any of the kids I coach to kick the ball long. I constantly encourage short passing and moving to get down the field as its impossible to play against. Quick passing and movement is very difficult to play against, as we have seen with so few teams been able to come close to matching Spain's standard of football. Why are people even contemplating criticising this? They are truly playing the beautiful game, even without the ball. Their work rates and stamina are fantastic and they work even harder without the ball than they do in possession. They have this young mentality of wanting to keep the ball so much that when they lose it they all go hunting to ensure they get it back in possession. The more possession a team has, the more they control the game and ultimately tire out the opposition. Believe me, chasing the ball for 90 minutes is not fun one little bit. Yes, there have been a few teams who have had success against this, but I mean few, and even those teams have rode their luck immensely.
Throughout this tournament I have backed Spain. They were certainly not playing to their usual fluid selves during the championship and deservedly were criticised for this (not for being boring), but they still found themselves in the Final of the European Championship. A team that conceeded 1 goal throughout the entire tournament. This is always a sign of a great team. Reminds me of the England rugby team in 2003, where they only started to play well in the Semi Finals, but they were in the semi finals playing sub standard.
Now Spain always had a few gears to progress through and they certainly showed that in the final. An incredible performance from in my opinion the greatest International team that has graced this planet. The scary thing is that in 2 years time I can see them doing it all over again, and part of me wants to see it too. No chance their football is boring one little bit. A joy to watch and a joy to be around during this time to be able to witness this.
(Someone pointed out to me today that Sergio Busquets - not one of Spains superstars as such, but a valuable member of the first team squad - had won 2 European Championships, 1 World Cup, 3 Liga Titles, 2 Champions Leagues, 2 Super Cups, 2 World Club Championships, 2 Coppa Del Ray's - he is just 23 years of age! - absolutely astonishing)
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