The Rain In Spain!

Not sure why I titled this but it is about Spain and more importantly the football team.

I have made the mistake of staying up in the UK to watch the Confederation Cup match against Uruguay. My son made the right choice and went to bed. I was left once again totally underwhelmed by the Spanish win.

I have whined before about the style of Spanish football and I want to be positive in my criticism. I do feel mean spirited when I complain about the Spanish team. 

You have got to hand it to them as a country, They have trained a lot of high quality coaches, I believe they have the highest per capita ratio of qualified coaches to players. Not only that they have built a team of talented individuals who are able to work together in almost telepathic understanding.

However my question still is - is it entertaining? If I were Spanish I wouldn't care I would just be enjoying the discomfort of others. 

My point is though that as a neutral observer would I pay to watch them? The answer is that I wouldn't part with hard earned cash to watch them. I would like to see more detailed stats of the match but my impression was that for all their possession and passing (72% possession) they only mustered 15 shots on goal and one their scores was actually an own goal. As the match progressed they were in complete control. Uruguay did not heed the example of Bayern Munich. Defend in numbers but break effectively. Uruguay did not posses the overall quality to make the most of the chances they had. 

And yet Spain were almost lucky to get a win. Luis Suarez scored a brilliant goal from a free kick and for the last 10 minutes the result was in the balance. 

You could argue a draw would not have been justice for all that skill/possesion/passing. But the game is about who scores the most not who passes the most and a draw would have punished them (rightly in my view) for being content with 2-0. 

As a "neutral" observer I don't want to pay good money to watch a team just kick a ball to each other. I want to see approach play and GOALS or at least an effort to reach the 18 yard box. Spain were quite happy knocking it about in the midfield and it is extremely tedious.

If they wish to be favourably compared to the Brazil side up to 1970 then they are going to have to show a little more thrust - a bit of daring do. All football officianado's remember something magical about those Brazilian sides. Those that witnessed a curling Garrincha free kick at Goodison Park in 1966 still talk of it 47 years later. Will we say "Did you see that amazing pass where Iniesta gently rolled it to a man in space?" Thought not.