Spain Wins The World Cup. What Could The Dutch Have Done Differently?

Posted by By Sports Session at 12 July, at 14 : 28 PM Print

By now you have heard or witnessed Spain win their first world cup, if you watched the game there is one question that comes to mind.  What could the Netherlands have done that they did not do?  I do not think there’s anything else they could have done besides playing less aggressively, not committing many fouls racking up yellow cards.  They also had a player sent off for Yellow Card accumulation at a critical point in the game.

It was always going to be Spain who dominated possession, which has been a constant in this tournament. There was not much the Dutch could do to change that because Spain always dominates possession.  They came into this tournament playing a style they called pragmatic: less possession, more defensive, and more frontal in attack when they gain possession.

I was a bit unsure of how that would play out on the Pitch, and the Dutch cannot argue that it was pragmatism, as opposed to Total Football, that took them far in this tournament.  At the very least, fans did not have to endure psychological torture from constant attacks from their opponents, since it is they that are usually dominant in possession and attack.

In a bit of role reversal Spain played a version of the Dutch’s Total Football.  The Dutch team has nothing to hang their heads about.  They certainly gave it their all. The only detracting factor from their effort was the ugly, aggressive way they played, although I thought the referee was too quick in some instances to award free kicks to Spain, and perhaps not as willing to humor the Dutch.

The Dutch used pressure marking as I thought they should. They defended high as was appropriate, and they got two good opportunities to put the game away, but they didn’t.  In the end, that proved the difference. Spain got a good opportunity and put it away.  I expect Spain to dominate football for another two years. They should still be a force to reckon with in the next European Championship.

But as with all good things, their football will start to decline at some point.  It happens to everyone, in every sport where there is some semblance of balance. But they should at least be grateful that they won the greatest of prizes during what may come to be referred to as the golden age of their football.  As for the Dutch, I expect them to go back to their Total Football minus the bickering, which they managed to put away this time.

It seems self-evident and commonsensical that the more control you have of the game, the more likely you are to win.  That is what Total Football does, being strong in just one area of the game is not going to be enough to win a World Cup.  Spain won because of the to football principle, and their overall control of the game is what eventually led to the opportunity to score.

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