DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Morocco’s players fell back on defense and patiently watched as Spain continued to pass the ball through midfield during their World Cup round of 16 match. Side by side, from one Spanish player to another.
Pass after pass, Spain tried to find an opening through the Moroccan defence, but the Moroccans remained committed, unwavering, waiting patiently with 11 men behind the ball in front of their goal.
The traditional “tiki-taka” style of ball possession allowed Spain to keep the ball for most of Tuesday’s game, but not get the goals they needed to keep their World Cup title. live campaign, and lost 3-0 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw in regulation time and extra time to end their World Cup campaign.
It was the third time Spain had failed to advance from the round of 16 at the World Cup after winning their only title in 2010, when Xavi and Andrés Iniesta were the leaders in the style of ball possession that stunned the soccer world.
The Spanish “tiki-taka” has clearly not borne fruit ever did, not at international level or at club level with Barcelona, which is where it all started. Barcelona have not won a Champions League since 2015 and were eliminated in the group stage of Europe’s top two-season club competition after Lionel Messi left and signed with Paris Saint-Germain.
Recent failures have led some to wonder if it’s time for a philosophical overhaul of Spanish football, or if it’s just a matter of adjusting the style to modern times or finding the right players to make it work again.
It’s been a while since Spain lost Xavi and Iniesta, key pieces that made tiki-taka thrive, and they haven’t had a top-tier striker since Fernando Torres and David Villa, who were key in helping transform possession. of the ball in goals when La Roja won two Euro Cups and a World Cup more than a decade ago. This year, Spain only had a true striker in their squad, Álvaro Morata, who is far from being considered a finisher like Torres and Villa.
It seemed that Spain was going to make the “tiki-taka” work again in Qatar after youngsters Pedri and Gavi led the team to a resounding 7-0 opening win over Costa Rica, as La Roja completed a record 1,003 passes for a 90-minute game and finished with 75% of possession of the ball with 17 attempts against nil by Costa Rica.
But La Roja was unable to win again after that, scoring just two more goals in their next three games. He did come out of the tournament with the most passes completed, with an average of 847 per game.
It didn’t take long for the criticism to start pouring into the home.
“A lot of possession and few shots,” said the sports newspaper AS on its front page.
“Spain clearly dominates but can’t get the goal to advance,” says the newspaper Sport.
Opponents have clearly found ways to prevent “tiki-taka” from working.
“We knew we weren’t going to have a lot of possession and that didn’t scare us,” Morocco coach Walid Regragui said after his team’s victory over Spain. “I looked at the last 20 games and, generally speaking, Spain had 70% of possession in those games. So I accepted that.”
Spain had 68% of possession and completed 967 passes on Tuesday, but made only one attempt on goal, two fewer than Morocco with their strategy that relied solely on counter-attacks.
“I knew it was going to be difficult,” Regragui said. “We would have to be extremely well organized. The defense and our midfielders and attackers worked very hard to make sure they didn’t have those angles for passes.”
It worked perfectly.
One of the last times Spain tried to get away from “tiki-taka” was with coach Julen Lopetegui ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Spain kept trying to control possession, but was more direct when attacking. The team went to Russia on an impressive unbeaten run, but Lopetegui was sacked just days before the team’s debut after taking a job at Real Madrid without telling federation officials. Spain were eliminated in a penalty shootout against the hosts in the round of 16.
Since 2010, Spain have won just three of their last 11 World Cup matches.
Whether there will be a reform in Spanish football or not will largely depend on whether Luis Enrique, the former Barcelona player and manager, will remain in charge of La Roja. He said that after the loss against Morocco he would rest before starting talks with the federation to decide on his future.
If he stays, more “tiki-taka” will come, whether it works or not.
“We lacked goals, but I am more than satisfied with what my team did,” he said. “The players executed my idea of football perfectly.”
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