They were never the favourites at this years World Cup, but the defending World Champions and back-to-back European Champions Spain were still considered as one of the front runners in Brazil. Even a tough group with Holland, Chile and the less favoured Australia, football anticipated that this era of domination would not end lightly.But within less than 190 minutes of football they left the tournament with no more than a whimper, with still one scheduled game left in their disastrous World Cup, Spain see themselves in an unfamiliar position. The feat means they are the 3rd team in the last 4 World Cups to crash out in the group stage when defending their crown, France in 2002 and Italy in 2010.
With their pending plane back to Spain, the enquiry into what went wrong will already be in full motion, and the factors are numerous.
Vicente del Bosque will take a large chunk of the blame, as will the group they were selected into. Diego Costa will leave Athletico Madrid to Chelsea knowing what opportunities he missed, while Cesc Fabregas will leave in the same direction imagining what he would have done had his opportunity arisen.
Having won the 2010 World Cup scoring just 8 goals, it was understandable that the Spanish team wanted to change it up slightly. It is hard to rely on just over a goal a game helping them all the way this time around, but the change in tactics proved fatal.
At the last World Cup it was mainly a combination of David Villa and Fernando Torres that held the front line. The two linked up well together as well as linking up with the majestic midfield. While Torres and Villa were not your usual number 9's as they more or less integrated with star midfielders Xavi, Inisesta and Fabregas to name a few, they were effective. Possession football was strangling opponents and eventually they would make their rare clear-cut chances pay.
At the 2012 European Championships they rarely played with a centre forward, electing to play keep ball in the midfield, with Fabregas the furthest up the pitch. This was again effective as they kept the ball for ridiculous amounts of time.
With the amount of possession they had it was proving almost impossible for oppositions to find the back of the net against them. They incredibly conceded just 1 goal throughout the 2012 tournament. Now they wanted to integrate a traditional number 9 up top to punish their opponents as they chased the ball. But being greedy cost Spain dear as their possession stats dropped below the average, opponents finding it easier to close the ball down while the Spanish then found it harder to win back position. Costa, a fine goal scorer, does not have the same work ethic that Fabregas, Villa and Torres had in the same role, and injuries that had plagued him in the final weeks of the regular season only lowered his motor.
In an attempt to score more, they have instead scored less, finding the net only once in the tournament so far with just 1 game remaining, that being a Xabi Alonso penalty.
At the other end there has been a distinguishable lack of authority. Iker Casilas has lacked first team football and it has showed as several mistakes from the Real Madrid number 2 have led to opposition goals. They have already conceded 7 goals, 1 more than they have conceded in the last 3 winning tournaments combined.
With no Carles Puyol there seems to be no defender to steady the ship that has been rocking out of control since Robin Van Persie's exquisite headed goal.
A 5-1 drubbing to the Dutch should have called for a change, and it did, but not the change most expected. Instead Javi Martinez slotted in at centre back in place of Gerard Pique, while Pedro dropped into midfield to replace maestro Xavi. Costa remained on the pitch as they were swept out of the competition by a raucous Chile, 2-0, but like the opening game he came off to a chorus of boos from the Brazilians to be replaced by Fernando Torres. Both times it was too late to make a difference.
This year change has been bad for Spain, as the gap between their midfield and lone striker Diego Costa was as large as the gulf between 2008-2012 Spain and the Spain that participated in this years World Cup. As the Spanish will put it, Si no está roto entonces no lo arregles. (If it's not broken then don't fix it)
