Spain 3- Saudi Arabia 2

First friendly game in preparation for the World Cup. It was a very positive training session. I would not pay too much attention to the final score.

REASONS FOR OPTIMISM:


1. Spain played with only one pure forward-Villa in the first half, Llorente in the second half. Why is this good news? Well, this hopefully means that the coach, Del Bosque, finally made up his mind regarding the way Spain will play, and also that he made the right choice. It was about time!

Since he got the job two years ago, Del Bosque has been hesitating a little too much. Deep in his soul he wants to play with wings and strong midfielders and defenders. He is a classic. However, he inherited not just a team, but also a bold and pretty unique style that won the Euro 2008 with a different coach, Luis Aragonés. This bold style demands an accumulation of very skillful yet small people in the midfield, and very few pure fowards, preferably just one, maximum two, but no wings. If the team plays with two pure forwards, then one of them would have to become a midfielder most of the time-that would be Villa-or else take turns. Against Saudi Arabia, Spain started out playing with 5 midfielders-Xabi Alonso, Busquets, Xavi Hernández, Silva and Iniesta. This will hopefully be the initial team in the World Cup. Good news indeed!

2. Iniesta just came back from a serious injury in perfect shape! He was probably the best player of the game.

3. The first goal was the product of fine associative football. It was a great play, beautiful to watch. Here you can see about 2/3 of it, with 10 passes in total before scoring:





They make it seem sooooo easy, when it is actually soooo difficult!

4. In spite of making 6 replacements in the second half and thus changing significantly the design, the team kept playing associative football.

5. Javi Martinez seems fully integrated and had good moves during the time he got. He is the rocky in this team. He is very good, an excellent replacement for Xabi Alonso. I actually like Martinez better, but that deserves another entry further along.

6. Llorente scored the winning goal. Great for having the people on the bench fully motivated and self-confident. Llorente is a very strong guy, over 6 foot tall, and very skillful with his feet (a bit Peter Crouch-ish). Spain may need him to score during some extra time in the near future.

7. Saudi Arabia was really close to tying the game. Excellent wake-up call! The worst enemy of any good team in the World Cup is underestimating the weaker rivals. Del Bosque is well-aware of this. Just remember the ConfeCup, when the US beat Spain. It can happen again, and this friendly game was a good reminder in the right moment.

All right, all right, there are also some REASONS FOR CONCERN. Let´s see:

1. Saudi Arabia scored 2 goals having a 28% of ball possession. Not more than five attacks, two shots, two goals!

2. Casillas is having a very irregular season. He has made too many mistakes here and there this year. In the first goal, he erred again.





His mind is somewhere else. Since he started going out with with a gorgeous journalist-Sara Carbonero-he is not the same saving machine.



It seems that their relationship is going really well. Casillas might start thinking about getting emotionally settled, starting a family... These are big things in anyone´s life. Good things. I completely understand him. Del Bosque, however, may have to make a tough decission if Casillas mind does not come back to football soon. Well, it has happened before. It was precisely Del Bosque when he was coaching Real Madrid who left Casillas on the bench during a final game of a Champions League. It may happen again. This would be a pitty. Casillas in good shape is a better goalie than Reina and Valdés.

3. Del Bosque played Arbeloa on the left. Gee, he is a right-footer! Arbeloa is a very disciplined, fairly strong, defensive player. Spain, however, needs players who can pass the ball after kicking it just once, maximum twice. Arbeloa can hardly do that most of the times, and he cannot do it at all when he is under pressure. He has to stop the ball, look up, then look down again to make sure where the ball is, and then... usually run backwards and pass the ball to a defender behind him 2 or 3 minutes later. This is terrible. The opponent team wins precious time to get set and on their marks again. Constant fast ball circulation is critical for Spain to be able to find a crack in the opponent's defense. Arbeloa does not help much in this regard, quite on the contrary.

Del Bosque does not fully trust Capdevilla defensively. All right, Capdevilla is older, not as fast and not as strong as Arbeloa. However, Capdevilla is a lefty, and he is in the top 10 of the Spanish League in his average of correct passing. And he is a good scorer too! Most importantly, Spain ought to defend with ball possession rather than with muscle. We Spain losses the ball, then the closest players massively press the opponent. Spain does not need one muscular defender on the left, but cooperation and coordination. Hopefully Del Bosque will dare to play Capdevilla instead.

Enough for today. This is the kind of reflection I will be sharing here. Please forgive the inelegance of my English and the linguistic mistakes you will certainly find in my writing. I would love to hear what you have to say. I am here to share, and also to learn.