During the recent round of international friendlies, one
of the most highly-anticipated matches was the clash between Germany and Spain
at Esprit Arena, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Thomas Müller and Rodrigo found the
back of the net for Die Mannschaft and La Furia Roja respectively.
This was an encouraging result for Spain, because unlike
Germany, they are not considered to be among the favourites to win the 2018
World Cup. What is notable, however, is the average age of the Spain starting
eleven against Germany: over 28 years old. Four of their starters – aging
legends Sergio Ramos, Gerard Piqué, Andrés Iniesta, and David Silva – are over
the age of 30.
Hence, for many members of the Spain team, this will be
their last chance to win a major international honour.
At the moment, Spain are a long way off from the
legendary team that won two European Championships and a World Cup between 2008
and 2012. In their last two international tournaments, they were knocked in the
first round of the 2014 World Cup and in the last 16 of the 2016 European
Championships. It must be noted that in 2016, the European Championships
expanded to 24 teams, so in any other year, Spain would have registered
consecutive first-round exits after winning three straight tournaments.
But there appears to be a glimmer of hope, both for now
and the future.
Players such as Lucas Vázquez, Dani Parejo, and Iago
Aspas have emerged as solid contributors, despite only blossoming into
international-level players at relatively later stages of their respective
careers. They will serve as capable backups to Spain’s core of the likes of the
four legends mentioned earlier, as well as players such as Diego Costa, Jordi
Alba, and David de Gea.
These players’ recent improvements will deepen the Spain
team, and this is important because bench depth is vital for any team
contending for the World Cup.
However, even if, as is expected, Spain do not win the
World Cup, they nevertheless have an exciting young core to build around for
the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Spain finished as runners-up in the 2017 European
Under-21 Championship, and some of the players in that squad, such as Saúl
Ñiguez, Héctor Bellerín, Iñaki Williams, Álvaro Odriozola, and Marco Asensio,
look as if they may go on to have excellent careers, both for club and country.
However, there is one key question that has not been
answered yet: will any of these promising youngsters go beyond being a solid,
contributing player and reach superstar, or even all-time great status?
Unfortunately for Spain, even though these players appear
to have productive careers ahead of them, it does not currently appear that any
of them have a ceiling that high.
Historically speaking, a team needs at least one, and
usually more, all-time superstars to win the World Cup. If none of Spain’s
future core goes on to become a bona fide superstar, it will be next to
impossible for them to win the 2022 World Cup.
As for the current core, as many know, it is full of some
of the greatest players of the last decade, such as Iniesta, Ramos, Cesc
Fàbregas, and Sergio Busquets, just to name a few.
However, all these players who played vital roles in
Spain’s three tournament victories are now approaching the end of their
fantastic careers. Hence, the coming World Cup will be their chance to elevate
themselves to football immortality, in what will be the last international
tournament for most, if not all of them.
The team will certainly want to send off these greats who
have given so much to the national team in the best possible way – with a World
Cup victory in July.
Having said all of this, how do I rate Spain’s chances in
Russia this summer?
While I do think it is unlikely that they will go on to
lift the World Cup, I cannot completely write them off. This Spain team has
achieved too much to be completely ignored.
Though they may not have the depth of Germany, the young
talent of France, or the cohesion of Brazil, because of the history their
players have, Spain can never be overlooked in major tournaments.
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