Pain in Spain

Is it losing flair in Euro 2012? Or are fans wearying of a team’s continued domination?

Right after defending European and World Champion Spain made it past the group stages of Euro 2012,midfielder Andres Iniesta,extraordinarily,found himself defending his team’s style of play that was called “ponderous” by the Spanish media. “We always go out to attack and the opponent only looks to defend. Starting from there I would swear we have won the confidence of many people and the respect of the opponents but not of all Spaniards it would appear,” he said. Opponents’ “respect” often manifests itself in blanket defending,with the hope of scoring on the counter or taking the game to penalties. The template that club sides Inter Milan and Chelsea laid down in denying free-scoring Barcelona has found an international echo too. Compounding things is Spain’s current deficiency in natural goal scorers. David Villa,top scorer in Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup,is out injured while Fernando Torres is out of form.

This would plunge any other team into crisis,but coach Vicente del Bosque’s striker-shorn Spain now has his midfield — Iniesta,Xavi Hernandez,Cesc Fabregas,David Silva,Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets — tasked with not just initiating and sustaining,but also finishing off moves. Some of the criticism may also be down to the modern fan’s weariness with a team’s continued domination.

A champion side often has to run to stay where it is,but a bit of number-spotting will show that Spain,despite the high standards it has set,and its current encumbrances,has only gotten better. Going into the semifinals,the team has scored more goals than it did in the entire World Cup campaign,and as many times as it did at the same stage of Euro 2010,conceding fewer. For,like Iniesta said in the same interview,“We can’t play another way because we don’t know how.” Sometimes,even conquering the world and setting off perfectly on the quest to reconquer Europe is not enough for the spoiled fans back home.