villareal8
13 Feb 2007, 07:10 PM
Source:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=408341&root=europe&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1&cc=5901
The Getafe-Valencia game this weekend was interesting for an entirely different reason too. Of the twenty-two players who started the game, seventeen were Spanish born and bred. That seems almost like a throwback to the old days. That's not to suggest that the game was any the better or the worse for it, but it's a statistic that comes to mind when comparing the performances of England and Spain last week, in the friendly at Old Trafford.
It's true that Rooney was injured, but the home side's performance, even when their two best players were on the park (Lampard and Gerrard) seemed to suffer from that old basic flaw - technique and confidence on the ball. You'd have thought by now that the foreigners in the Premiership might have passed on a hint or two, but it wasn't in evidence. Spain had it rather easy.
Without playing particularly well, they always had enough invention on the ball to win it - and Xabi Alonso wasn't even playing. Do they just learn better from the equally cosmopolitan air in La Liga, or is it just that in Spain, sides like Getafe and Recreativo (another team with a low percentage of foreign imports) are doing well, and dragging up the basic skill levels along with them?
I mean that neither of these sides plays it the rough-and-tumble way. To compete amongst the elite, they've decided to play football. Or maybe it's just the general level that's gone down? I'll leave that to you, but never before in the history of the encounters between the two countries did it ever look so easy for Spain.
There was a lot of Valencia in the victory too. Villa looked very sharp up front, and his movement and changes of pace kept Woodgate and Ferdinand busy all night. He set up the goal and generally looked comfy with his club partner, Morientes, who should have scored as well. Morientes, something of an enigma despite his record (he was never rated at Real Madrid) has only been at Valencia since September, but David Albelda, who was magnificent against England, has been there rather longer (8 years to be precise) and was the hod-carrier supreme, doing the dirty work that allowed Xavi to control the tempo of the game.
But Spain just had that confidence on the ball, right through the side. They'll need to use it in the forthcoming qualifier against Denmark, since if they lose it they'll probably be out of Euro 2008, and these points will seem irrelevant. All the ball-control in the world still failed to avert defeat in Northern Ireland, for example.
And talking of quality, what an extraordinary game
What u guys think?
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=408341&root=europe&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1&cc=5901
The Getafe-Valencia game this weekend was interesting for an entirely different reason too. Of the twenty-two players who started the game, seventeen were Spanish born and bred. That seems almost like a throwback to the old days. That's not to suggest that the game was any the better or the worse for it, but it's a statistic that comes to mind when comparing the performances of England and Spain last week, in the friendly at Old Trafford.
It's true that Rooney was injured, but the home side's performance, even when their two best players were on the park (Lampard and Gerrard) seemed to suffer from that old basic flaw - technique and confidence on the ball. You'd have thought by now that the foreigners in the Premiership might have passed on a hint or two, but it wasn't in evidence. Spain had it rather easy.
Without playing particularly well, they always had enough invention on the ball to win it - and Xabi Alonso wasn't even playing. Do they just learn better from the equally cosmopolitan air in La Liga, or is it just that in Spain, sides like Getafe and Recreativo (another team with a low percentage of foreign imports) are doing well, and dragging up the basic skill levels along with them?
I mean that neither of these sides plays it the rough-and-tumble way. To compete amongst the elite, they've decided to play football. Or maybe it's just the general level that's gone down? I'll leave that to you, but never before in the history of the encounters between the two countries did it ever look so easy for Spain.
There was a lot of Valencia in the victory too. Villa looked very sharp up front, and his movement and changes of pace kept Woodgate and Ferdinand busy all night. He set up the goal and generally looked comfy with his club partner, Morientes, who should have scored as well. Morientes, something of an enigma despite his record (he was never rated at Real Madrid) has only been at Valencia since September, but David Albelda, who was magnificent against England, has been there rather longer (8 years to be precise) and was the hod-carrier supreme, doing the dirty work that allowed Xavi to control the tempo of the game.
But Spain just had that confidence on the ball, right through the side. They'll need to use it in the forthcoming qualifier against Denmark, since if they lose it they'll probably be out of Euro 2008, and these points will seem irrelevant. All the ball-control in the world still failed to avert defeat in Northern Ireland, for example.
And talking of quality, what an extraordinary game
What u guys think?