Between 2008 and 2012 Spain had the most dominant international team on the planet. Winning three tournaments in a row, 2x European Championships and 1x World Cup, a possession hungry, dominant team that strangled opponents with a thousand passes. The midfield especially would go down in history as one of the best of all time, a trio of Barcelona players at the heart of everything, a club that had also dominated the same period under Pep Guardiola, winning the European Cup twice (2009 and 2011).
In the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa, Spain faced the Netherlands. Neither had won the World Cup before, but Spain had the recent success of the last Euros. Sergio Busquets would sit deep, break up play and dictate what came next, Xabi Alonso was sat just in front of him, with an unbelievable passing range, and then you had Xavi and Iniesta working in tandem on the right hand side of midfield and into attack.
Xavi and Iniesta always come together when you think of those great Spain and Barcelona sides from that period, and rightly so. They shared a pitch 486 times, which is incredible, and had such an impact on the style of play (the positive use of the Tiki-Taka term) and how football was perceived globally.
In the World Cup final, the gameplay that Spain had been working on for a few years was perfected. They suffocated the Netherlands with over 600 passes and 83% pass accuracy. Spain just didn’t give the ball away, with great spatial awareness from Xavi and Iniesta in particular, press resistance like no other, and genius football IQ.
This was a Dutch team that played aggressive football, so much so that even some of their fans didn’t like the way they had reached the final. In the match itself there was the brutal chest height, studs-up challenge by Nigel de Jong on Xabi Alonso that somehow escaped a red card from the referee, Howard Webb thinking an assault like that only warranted a yellow card.
Spain didn’t blow teams away, that would come at the next European Championships, instead strangling, suffocating, and dominating the ball. They didn’t let teams get anywhere near them, fast, accurate passing, triangles all over the pitch, and the metronome passing that dictated the tempo. Players like Xavi and Iniesta also knew when to take their chance, when to go vertical and direct, when to take a defender on, and take advantage of the gaps they’ve created. They were both comfortable in tight positions, never scared to receive a pass, never scared to play wall pass after wall pass before creating a moment. For relatively short players, Xavi and Iniesta had strength in how they played the game.
Xavi had assisted the winning goal for Puyol in the semi-final match against Germany, and then in final, Iniesta scored the only goal of the game, deep into extra time to bring Spain the World Cup trophy for the first time. Both made the difference when it mattered the most. When you think of the history of Spain and the history of the modern game, Xavi and Iniesta stand out. There are no other players than can compare.
Did you enjoy this post?