Yesterday evening the streets in Spain were as noisy and full of themselves as they had been silent between three 0’clock and five 0’clock as the whole nation seemed to retire to watch their team play its first world cup match.
For the first time in recent world cups, Spain seemed in general realistic, if not fatalistic, about their team’s chances of reaching the World Cup Final. The team had a difficult job qualifying, and most commentators here seemed to think that getting to the quarter finals would be a feat in itself. Yesterday’s match has changed all that, and most of Spain (with the exception of the team manager, Luis Aragones) now seems to be convinced that the Spanish team has half won the cup already!
It certainly was a great performance, and the mixture of experienced players and new, explosive talent Luis Aragones fielded yesterday paid off as the team played its best match in years. Aragones is one of Spain’s most experienced, controversial, stubborn and serious managers.
When he was interviewed after the match, he was quick to remind the euphoric reporters that one good result wasn’t going to win Spain the World Cup, and his overall demeanor was as grumpy as ever. Yet Aragones is extremely popular with his players, and during his career he has specialised in lifting underdogs and badly performing teams to previously unthought-of heights in the league.
Aragones has kept his team on a tight leash over the past few weeks, arranged countless practice matches with other teams or between reserves and first-team players, and has been keen to field players who are new to the Spanish side, but whose form in the league this year has been stunning, and whose motivation and level of fitness are optimum. Quite a few commentators were critical of his decision to keep captain Raul on the bench in favour of the much less experienced Villa (the second highest goal scorer in the Spanish league this season), but after the game yesterday the unexpected tactic was unanimously praised by all.
The team benefitted from Villa’s bubbly skill during the first 50 minutes of the match, and from Raul’s stabilising influence towards the end.
A few days ago we published an article in one of our Spanish blogs predicting surprises and unexpected successes for this Spanish side, precisely because of the fact that their country was not expecting great things of the players this time, and because of Luis Aragones’s capability to achieve near miracles with other mediocre sides in the past. And also the fact that this is proving to be a great year for Spanish sports: Barcelona Champions League winners, Nadal going from strength to strength in tennis, Alonso winner of the last grand prix….
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The national football team still has alot to do, and if there is one thing that past Spain teams (like England) have excelled at, it is suddenly losing apparantly easy matches in World and European competitions. However, if Luis Aragones manages to keep morale high and expectations humble among his players, we may be in for a few more pleasant surprises.
See: Videos of Spain’s goals against Ukraine and Videos of Spain’s goals against Tunisia
