Dream over for Spain鈥檚 golden boys
Print Edition
THE poignant lyrics of John Lennon’s 1970 song “God” capture how some of Spain’s golden generation of players and decorated coach Vicente del Bosque must be feeling after their shock first-round exit from the World Cup on Wednesday.
“The dream is over. What can I say? The dream is over. Yesterday.”
Lennon’s words partly referred to the breakup of The Beatles, a cataclysmic event in the history of popular music, and Spain’s failure in Brazil thanks to defeats to the Netherlands and Chile in its opening two group games has sent similar shockwaves around the global soccer community.
A glorious six-year run at the top of the world game that secured back-to-back European crowns either side of a debut World Cup triumph was brought to a sad conclusion in Rio de Janeiro and will almost certainly end the international careers of several of the top players.
Used to seeing their team effortlessly controlling games with their “tiki-taka” possession-based playing style, fans of La Roja watched open-mouthed as first the Dutch and then the Chileans humbled their once all-conquering heroes.
The front cover of Marca sports daily yesterday simply stated “The End”, with a picture of Andres Iniesta, who scored the winner in the World Cup final in South Africa four years ago, alone and forlorn on the pitch.
After the debacle in Brazil, goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas, midfielders Xavi and Xabi Alonso and forwards David Villa and Fernando Torres are unlikely to figure when Spain defends its European title in France in two years’ time.
The future of Del Bosque, the architect of the World Cup success in South Africa and victory at Euro 2012, is also in doubt after he said he would consider his position following the Chile loss.
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