Fall of an empire

Last night, the world witnessed a humble end to an elegant and dominant era, even if I don't exactly agree to it, at-least that is what I am getting to hear every where this morning. Spain are packed up and are being sent home from Brazil after their second group stage loss to Chile. It really is surprising considering how successful La Roja have been for the last half of the decade.Not to mention, their tiki-taka brand of football combined with the number of young technically gifted players that they have up their sleeves apparently promised a long future of Spanish dominance in World football.
However, I refuse to bend towards public opinion and write them off just yet.

Here are a few excuses that may help us understand why they haven't fared that well this time, yes i said "excuses" because after winning three back to back major international trophies you are certainly allowed to mess up one or two of them and earn the rights to give excuses.

1.Okay so, to begin with I think La Roja missed the David villa factor this time. A lethal and versatile finisher, because when we talk about tiki-taka, it is not just about keeping possession of the ball and playing short passes in the middle of the park, you need a responsible, intelligent, efficient striker who can take charge up front and finish off the through balls. Leo Messi in case of Barcelona.
Suppose if you do not have that striker, you can keep possession all day long and i'll keep defending you with a good line and you'll never score in your life. Come on, this is international football for heaven sake! defenders of other teams are world renowned athletes, they aren't going to allow you to score that easily if you don't have anything special for them.
Yes i know that contradictory to my views Spain won the Euro 2012 without David Villa. Let alone him, they won it with a false nine formation(its a formation where there is no striker), its perfectly true, but I would  rather say that it is only so many times in a life time can you say that a football team has won an international trophy with out a striker. My point being, Villa was in a league of his own and Diego Costa is not the villa material. So yes, I think I've made my point. :D

2. The Puyol factor was missed. I think ever since Barcelona burst into the headlines with their innovative tiki-taka format under Pep Guardiola in 2009, there was always a sense of immense security at their back in the form of Puyol that let them keep the ball in the middle of the park with so much comfort and ease. I also feel that he was the reason why Pique and Valdes get a lot of undeserved credit that they have, for the last couple of years. Nothing against the two them but I highly doubt they'd be anywhere nearly as successful as they have been, without the beast.


3. I am not sure but i don't think adapting to the South American climate played a big part in their exit, because teams like Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Croatia, are proving it otherwise.  

To sum it up I believe David Villa was a nightmare to every defender in the world. Carles Puyol was a nightmare to every striker in the world. More over Puyol was like a fearless BEAST and soldier who put his body on the line every time he played football for his club or country. It is very difficult to find such authentic and committed players in today's generation.

To conclude, it is quite apparent that La Roja are a sea of talent and it shouldn't be very difficult for them to find a David Villa version 2.0 and a Carles Puyol version 2.0. :)

I am thoroughly enjoying this world cup, i'm sure its likewise with you too, have fun!
That's it for now, Adios!

BRAZIL 2014

It is a beautiful time of the year, we have the much awaited monsoon here in Mumbai, after the unbearable heat that made life so hard for the last couple of months.
Well, on another note, the world cup is finally back and needless to say, for a football lover like me, its like a carnival, like the happiest two months in the last four years, like the...I don't know, its just wonderful!
So as i enjoy this beautiful tournament for the next month and half, I really want to share my verdicts, views, opinions, dos, don'ts with you. Your opinion is welcome(only just keep it clean please :)).

Alright so, I think Brazil is a good one to begin with.
In their opening match with Croatia, the formation they went for was 4-2-3-1. Back line had Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo.
Defensive midfield had Gustavo and Paulinho
Attacking midfield had Hulk, Neymar, Oscar
Fred was the lone Striker.

Now what i have noticed so far is that Dani alves loves to go up front from the right hand side but Marcelo on the other hand is quite reluctant to help with the attack from the left. I reckon more than 90% of the attack was from the right. So teams that want to do well against Brazil must find a way to break the play when Alves is on top, counter attack from that wing before Gustavo fills in for Alves.

I think that's what happened during the Croatia goal. Alves was caught up front and Olic attacked from that wing. Thiago Silva waited too long for Gustavo to come and take his place so that he could go and contain Olic down the wing. i think teams can exploit that little bit of "time" that the brazillian defence takes to adjust on Alves' absence.

Well other than that, I think they have good fire power up front. Brazil should see this tournament through without much problems. Big Contenders!
Alright, that's it for now, I shall be back with more! cheers!