I need to speed up my writing in order to stay current. Lot has happened since I started working on this part.
Senior citizens are often treated unkindly. They are less energetic than their younger counterparts, and yet they believe they have some "experience" and that experience alone should compensate for skill, agility and overall hunger for success. This compels the coaches to ignore young prospects and select old buffoons instead.
Iker Casillas and Gienluigi Buffoon are undoubtedly two of our generation's best goalkeepers, but it seems their days have come and went away, and they are only shadows of their former selves.
As a rule of thumb, we are seeing that teams relying on older players are suffering dearly. To be more precise, European teams relying on older players are suffering dearly. Only 10 days of the world's greatest show has passed, and already titans like Spain and England have fallen. Two others are waiting to get the boot as well.
Spain team reminds me of a Hurricane, and whenever I think about Hurricanes, the song "Rock You Like A Hurricane" by Scorpions starts playing in the back of my mind. They came, they saw and they conquered the world in 2010, and two years later, the seasoned soldiers of Vicente del Bosque managed to win the Euro cup, too--an unprecedented event.
But time has not been kind to the Spaniards. Bulk of the Spanish golden generation came from FC Barcelona, and they came to prominence by adapting the now famous "Tiki-Taka". At first, I thought this was another useless innovation(!) by Prothom-Alo (e.g. Khude barta), but it seems it's a proper word and has its own wikipedia page as well. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiki-taka)
So the world was swept away by tiki-taka. No one had any answer against both Barca and Spanish national team. But the coaches around the globe are not dumb. They took their time, analyzed the strategy, and did so much homework that within 2 years, the strategy has become a child's play and Spain has lost two out of two games in the Fifa World Cup 2014; letting in 7 goals and only scoring 1, and that too, from a penalty kick.
Every war has casualties, and it seems that the Spanish inquisition's biggest casualty will be their defense and attack. Saint Iker; fondly named by the fans failed miserably. Things that counted against him:
- He is a great goalkeeper, but he is not the first choice keeper for his club side.
- He is the captain of the squad. So despite of playing like bat-shit, he just didn't have the heart to step down in the 2nd game.
- He is a living legend, but he is in his mid thirties
And as for the strikers, none of them had the killer instinct to get the goals rolling. All kinds of tiki-taka ended in vain when Diego Costa failed to deliver. Honestly, I didn't even hear that much about him before this tournament. But then again, I am not a very ardent follower of the league games, so he might have been "big" there.
So I went to good old wikipedia again, and wow, the revelation is almost like opening the Pandora's box. Apparently, he played twice for the Brazilian national team before embracing Spanish citizenship.
Some text directly copied from wiki:
On 29 October 2013, Costa declared that he wished to play international football for Spain, sending a letter to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).Following the news, Scolari commented:"A Brazilian player who refuses to wear the shirt of the Brazilian national team and compete in a World Cup in your country is automatically withdrawn. He is turning his back on a dream of millions, to represent our national team, the five-time champions in a World Cup in Brazil
So basically, Spain came to the field with a Brazilian Mir Jafor, and still hoped to win the cup. No wonder things didn't work out too well for them.
And about the other stars in the team; as an example "Fernando Torres". Oh wait! Isn't that the guy who has been featured in thousands of Memes for missing hundreds of the easiest goal scoring opportunities?
Check out this list of funny Torres memes:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1159374-gems-from-the-internet-15-funniest-fernando-torres-memes
And then there's Xavi, Iniesta, Xab Alonso, Pedro, David Villa, Fabregas -- all great starts from across the globe who came from a grueling league with tiring legs, and most of these players are also either over or approaching their 30s.
Surprisingly enough ,Spain approached their 3rd and last game with a totally different mantra. The starting eleven consisted of old veterans like Torres and David VIlla, and other overlooked stars like Mata and Cazorla got a chance to show their skills. Also, this was the first Ikarless game for Spain in a long while; Pepe Reina (not the Portuguese pepe!) took his place and ended the game with a clean sheet.
After an inspiring show, they won the game 3-0 against Australia, and David Villa, Mata and Torres(!) scored one goal each.
As one of my friend said, there is light at the end of the tunnel. As old veterans hang up their boots and gloves, new stars will shine from the burnt remains of the mighty Phoenix. Spain will not fade away.
To be continued...
Previous Parts:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/ishtiaque-khan/thoughts-on-fifa-worldcup-part-2-brazilian-zeal/10152077645995728
https://www.facebook.com/notes/ishtiaque-khan/thoughts-on-fifa-worldcup-part-1/10152075297965728
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