Portugal 0 - Spain 1, 2nd round

If vertigo can be deceiving, the tension of live broadcasting and the sweetness of victory even more so. Indeed, I just watched the game again, this time recorded, and it did not look quite the same game that I had seen live. Portugal was much less close to score than I felt during the live broadcast, and Spain did overall a much better job than I thought, both defensively and offensively.

It was probably the most serious game Spain has played so far in this World Cup. Intesity and focus were higher than ever before, and every players was involved. For example, in the 9th minute of the game Villa sprinted all the way down to the Spanish left corner trying to block a cross from Costa. Really remarkable effort for a pure striker! Both the offensive and defensive efforts were all along generous and collective. The quality of the opponent required such a vigilant attitude. In fact, two out the three most dangerous scoring chances for Portugal came precisely when some Spanish player lost intensity or concentration.

The biggest news, however, came on the strategy front. For the first time in this World Cup, Xavi Hernandez was in charge of beginning most plays. After so much debate about him playing out of place, about his incompatibility with Xabi Alonso, and so on, as you have read in this blog, the coach finally paid some attention to us critics a put Xavi Hernandez in charge. Whenever Hernandez would go back to pick up the ball, Alonso would go forward and occupy the space that Hernandez left free. At last! This simple move significantly improved Spain's ball circulation. As soon as Alonso would stop moving forward for a while, Spain's fluidity would clog and the team would stop having scoring chances.

On the down side, Spain keeps having big problems when attacking static defenses. Of all the scoring chances during the game Spain enjoyed, only three, including the goal, were kicks inside the box. Among all possible remedies for this problem, I hold in this blog again and again that the best one, the most consistent with the overall Spanish strategy, is to include a 5th miedfielder. The coach, however, seems to think differently. He brought in Fernando Llorente. David Villa scored for Spain just two minutes after Llorente was brought in, and the Spanish press celebrated the goal as a success of both Llorente and Del Bosque. I say, in contrast, that correlation does not imply causation.

Llorente played facing his own goalie, and the team lacked as much verticality as before. Now, after scoring, Spain is just deadly. But this is the case whether or not Llorente is on the field. There is no team like Spain in its ability to play monkey-in-the-middle while looking for a crack in its opponent's defensive wall. I argue that this would be easier, and the ball loses less frequent, if the coach would added another miedfielder. And the assists to Llorente or whoever happens to play as a striker would increase exponentially. Del Bosque does not seem to agree.

Spain advances to the round of 8 psychologically stronger and having played in some phases during the game the most vibrant, skilfull, and beautiful to watch football played in this World Cup so far. Del Bosque has corrected two fundamental mistakes: Xavi Hernandez is back in command, and the strategy is again based on the passing game and ball possession. It still lacks some ability to break through the opponent's defense and get inside the box, and to secure ball possession a little longer. In my view, both things go together, and would be brought about by a fifth miedfielder. However, I have to feel happy that Del Bosque at least listened about Xavi Hernandez and the wings. Now the Spanish style starts resembling what it used to be. No one doubts that it can get even better, i.e., more dominant and more dangerous. Against the rivals to come it may be truly necessary.