R16 July 1 Russia v. Spain [R]

Tiki taka, like all other tactics in football, has its place and time. But when a side is voluntarily ceding possession, and you don't need to pass side ways and backwards to keep possession and move up slowly to keep the opponent at bay, that is not the right style to use over and over again to try to create your chances.

The problem with Spain, against both Russia and Iran, was that Spain weren't willing to risk too many longer passes for players to run behind the defense. Longer passes are riskier and you can't keep 90+% passing accuracy with them, but they are sometimes what you need to go behind a defense and create your chances. One reason, besides their natural inclination to do and overdo the short passing game, may be that they aren't as confident in their backline? Spain, without the ball, doesn't seem all that great defensively. I know that doesn't sound credible, but from what I saw, Pique in particular, is more useful passing the ball around than defending.