The tiki taka is a play style that actually has its roots in Dutch football. Johan Cryuff, perhaps the best Dutch player of all time, helped incorporate the total football philosophy the Dutch created to his Barcelona teams as both a coach and a player at the club. It wasn’t until Pep Guardiola was brought on as head coach of the first team that he along with an outstanding generation of La Masia graduates took the style and created perhaps the greatest club team in football history.
What many people don’t realize is that the Spanish national team wanted to implement a similar play style even before Pep was named first team manager at Barcelona. Xavi, Barcelona’s current coach, and linchpin of the play style has repeatedly mentioned that Spain head coach Luis Aragones at the time entrusted the national team on his shoulders even when he wasn’t a regular fixture in Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona team. The play style ushered in the most successful era for the Spanish national team. We’re now 3 World Cups removed though from Spain’s last win. Is it time for the Spaniards to look for a new way to play?
Why Hasn’t Luis Enrique’s Team Been As Successful As Del Bosque’s and Aragones’ Teams?
One could quickly point to the average age of Luis Enrique’s players to try and justify the lackluster performance that they ultimately put in at the World Cup. The easy way out is to say that this is a team that’s going to be better suited to compete at the next Euros, and the next World Cup. There’s certainly validity to that argument. The thing is, the Spain that we are comparing his team to dominated World football for an entire 4-year span. It was back to back Euros, and a World Cup in between.
This Luis Enrique squad had a decent showing in the past European cup, and now that the team could’ve potentially arrived with more experience to the World Cup. At least someone like Pedri who despite his youth has played in every major tournament with Spain in the last few years. Today Pedri was one of the players that really let us down quite a bit. He was basically reluctant to leave his position on the attack at any point during the game. There was a lack of urgency in the infinite array of passes that the team completed.
Should Spain Move To A Different Play Style?
They probably won’t, that’s the reality of the situation. As we mentioned previously the age of the players on the squad helps Luis Enrique justify the loss and perhaps continue on as national team manager. It seems he’s all in on the philosophy, and he won’t change any time soon. At the same time Barcelona which is where most of the young players on this team play is also married to that Tiki-Taka philosophy. So in a way it would make sense for a national team to try and take advantage of one of their club team’s school of thought.
The problem at this point though is that the current wave of Spanish players is perhaps not as talented as we thought they were. The team lacks creativity and depth of play. Some of their key players are also getting up there in age. Busquets, Morata, and Jordi Alba are going to need to be replaced pretty soon. Other than Nico Williams there was no other player that was willing to leave the strict script that the tiki taka style of play demands. There’s an argument to be made that this light young team would’ve been better off playing a more direct style of football. We probably won’t ever get a chance to see them do just that!
