“Since the Brazil team of 1970, I can’t remember a side that thrashed and thrilled in virtually all its games – the closest thing to that I have seen is this Spanish team.” (José Sámano, El País) When world and European champions Spain play Portugal for a place in the 2012 European Championship final on Wednesday night, part of me will be rooting for Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese. And if I don’t punch the air when Andrés Iniesta (or one of the other seemingly countless pixie-like midfielders) scores Spain’s first goal, it’s because I’m bored of tiki-taka. First of all, I should explain that I deeply admire what Spain have achieved over the last four years. Having struggled for … [Read more...] about Why I no longer love Spain’s tiki-taka
Spain vs Portugal
Ronaldo plans to cap a magic year by sinking Spain
Cristiano, nos vemos pronto (“Cristiano, we’ll see you soon”) screamed the front cover of Marca on Friday, such was the confidence that Spain would brush aside the French in Saturday’s European championship quarter-final and meet Ronaldo’s Portugal in the semis. And brush them aside they did, with little difficulty, despite La Roja’s unconvincing win in the final group game against Croatia. The France team – which before the 2-0 defeat to Sweden in their final group game had been on a 23-match unbeaten streak – produced very little in the game. Any hope for the French disappeared after the Sweden loss, when dressing room clashes involving Hatem Ben Arfa and Samir Nasri were widely … [Read more...] about Ronaldo plans to cap a magic year by sinking Spain