From under achievers to champs to chumps : Bidding adieu to Tikki Takka
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 21 , 2014 -

The circle is complete. From underachievers to champs to chumps. This should aptly sum up the story of Spain, as a footballing Nation.

For years, Spain was dubbed the perpetual underachievers, never able to live up to its potential in the big theatre such as the FIFA World Cup and the European Championship, though they had a vast pool of talent.

With a strong and formidable domestic league, the La Liga, Spain produced top performers who stood right up there rubbing shoulders with the best, but with all their talents they were never able to live up to their billing and in the process earned the not so charitable tag of the virtual underachievers.

In 2012, the respected Guardian included two Spanish players in its list of 10 greatest football players of the year-Iniesta and Xavi.

Again of the ten listed amongst the best, five of them played (play) for Spanish clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid.

Moreover at the club level, the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the European circuit would be hard to match and this goes back to the 50s and 60s boasting such names as Alfredo di Stefano, Puskas, Eusebio, etal.

A strong footballing tradition but as a National team, Spain never really lived up to its reputation.

Not even in 1986, when Emilio Butragueno single handedly demolished a rampaging Denmark and not only taking the world by surprise but also becoming one of the more favourites amongst the football fans across the world with their free flowing style.

However this was not enough and Spain continued to live as the perpetual underachievers at the international level. However things began to change in the 2000’s and Spain became the first team to win three major international titles back to back.

With Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Iker Casillas helming the team, it won its first European championship title in 2008, when it outplayed Germany 1-0 in the final.

The dominance continued, when they lifted the FIFA World Cup beating Netherlands by a solitary goal in South Africa in 2010. The winning streak went on to 2012 when they trounced Italy 4-0 in the European Championship final with Casillas conceding only one goal throughout the tournament.

The transformation from underachievers to world and European champions was dramatic and Spain went on to set the benchmark in football from 2008 to 2012. Tikki Takka, the style that underlined the short, crisp passes became the slogan of football across the world.

Equally dramatic is the humiliating exit of Spain in the first round of the ongoing FIFA World Cup championship. Demolished 5-1 by Netherlands in their opening game, the poor show continued when they went down to the less fancied Chile by 2 goals to nil.

Spain, of course, is not the first defending champion to exit in the first round.

Italy achieved this infamous tag in 2010 after lifting the Cup in 2006 and France too went out in the first round in 2002 after lifting its maiden World Cup title in 1998 with Zinedine Zidane weaving magic on the pitch.

There is still a match remaining against Australia, but as the Soccerroos demonstrated against the Netherlands, they will not be push overs and though it will be an inconsequential match, Spain will have to play for pride, as befitting a defending champion.

End of an era.

This is not The Sangai Express saying it, but Xabi Alonso, the talismanic midfielder of Spain.

The dominance of Spain in the international fora seems to have come to an end, as things stand now, but there is no reason not to believe that they cannot bounce back in the near future.

France did it after exiting in the first round in the 2002 FIFA World Cup as defending champions by coming back strongly in the 2006 edition reaching the final, where they eventually lost to Italy in a penalty shoot out.

Italy too exited in the first round as defending champion in the 2010 World Cup, but they bounced back in the European Championship to reach the final, though they were blanked 4 goals to nil by an unstoppable Spain.

End of an era it may be, but it would be premature to write off Spain, for they have the potential to bounce back.