ADIOS ESPANA - OLA ADEOTOYE (23.06.14)


 Titans of the game, unbeatable, the pass masters, all can be used to describe the Spanish national team. In recent years they have ruled the world at not only international level but on the club scene as well. Their crown jewel FC Barcelona managed at the time by the mastermind of 'tiki taka' football Pep Guardiola swept aside all that came up against them like a modern day Roman empire (unfortunately twice it happened to be Manchester United in their way).

Then to further compound their dominance on the football stage the national team ended their tournament hoodoo by capturing the European Championships in 2008. All that seemed to do was whet the appetite of this greedy trophy machine, and in 2010 they picked up the World Cup in South Africa, followed by the European championships in 2012 dismantling Italy 4-0 in the final. But like all great empire's there comes a time when those at the top fall, and Spain's run of three successive international trophies is over at the first hurdle.                                                                                                                               It was expected that the 5-1 slumping at the hands of Van Gaal's Netherlands side might act as a jolt of electricity and surge through the entire side, how wrong those people were.

Chile even before the World Cup had started had already previously shown Roy  Hodgson's England on Wembley turf that they were not a team to take lightly. A side featuring key players like Alexis Sanchez (FC Barcelona),  Arturo Vidal (Juventus) and Eduardo Vargas (Napoli) will cause even the best teams problems. As the referee blew his whistle on 96 minutes Jorge Sampaoli's Chile side plunged the final dagger through Spain's World Cup ambitions in Brazil. Their 2-0 loss left them rock bottom of Group B with zero points from a possible six, with only a dead rubber game against Australia to prepare for before the squad flies back home, albeit a lot more prematurely than we all thought.

It's the end of the line at international level for players like Xavi, David Villa, Iker Casillas, and Xabi Alonso, the end of an era if you will. But Spain have a conveyor belt of talent coming from within their local academies and current young stars. Players such Isco, Thiago, David De Gea, Jese Rodriguez, Iker Muniain, and Gerard Deulofeu. All are the next crop of stars who will feature heavily in any future successes of the Spain national team. But for now the greedy trophy hungry machine I spoke of earlier is in a gentle slumber, while their fans await the rise of their future Spanish heroes.