Team Focus: Spain Must Maintain Newfound Vigour at Euro 2016

It was quite a claim - and quite a concern - for a Spanish side that have gone through something of an identity crisis of late. It was also an indication of the crossroads the defending European champions are at. 

“To choose just 23 players for Euro 2016 will be a problem,” manager Vicente Del Bosque stated after his team beat Ukraine 1-0. “There’s still a long way to go until then.” 

For quite a long time now, Del Bosque himself has been seen as one of Spain’s biggest problems, and precisely because of the players he does choose most. None of this is to do down a great manager who guided Spain to their greatest ever success in winning the last two of three international titles in a row, but he has still seemed a little trusting of too many of those players. There’s just been the feeling that the team could do with a fresh approach. 

Such an approach could have a multiple effect, both in terms of injecting new energy with new players and also shaking them from a certain staleness of play. By the start of this campaign, and certainly through the World Cup, there just seemed that classic sense of attrition that all champions eventually suffer from if there is no change in the team. 

It has been all the more frustrating because, unlike so many champions, Spain didn't need to depend on the old guard. They still had so much coming through. Full trust in a new core could make them the greatest in the world again. 

At the least, by the end of the campaign, Del Bosque altered a bit more. 

The 1-0 win over Ukraine featured just one player from the team that won the 2012 European Championships in the same Kiev stadium, and he - Cesc Fàbregas - forms part of a formidable group. It says much that there has been some discussion over whether the Chelsea midfielder should be one of a few players left out. Consider Spain’s midfield options alone. It is a “problem” - to use Del Bosque’s own word - that everyone else would want, perhaps even Germany and France. 

The manager must choose from: Sergio Busquets, Javi Martínez, Koke, Thiago Alcántara, Fàbregas, Santi Cazorla, Andrés Iniesta, David Silva, Isco, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Pedro and José Callejón.  

Some of the stats that group produce are stellar, and still just the smallest indication of the depth of their quality. 

They consist of the player with the most assists in all of Europe’s top four leagues, in David Silva, with six; the player with the most passes in the Premier League, in Santi Cazorla, with 81.5 per game; the player with the second most, in Fabregas, with 68.8; and the third highest scoring midfielder in the Premier League, in Juan Mata, with three. 

And that’s just this season. Last season, Fàbregas had the most assists in the Premier League with 18 and Cazorla next on 11. Meanwhile, both Koke and Isco were near those numbers in Spain with 10 and nine respectively. 

The point here is that, even some of Spain’s finest ever players have moved on or are close to the end, they still have so many of Europe’s elite players. 

Of course, individuals’ performing at their best for their clubs is one thing. Individuals coming together for a proper collective, and whether they can even come close to replicating the 2010 side’s intensity, is something else. 

In that regard, the Ukraine match was a start. One of the problems with the great Spain generation by the end was, even when they tried, they just couldn’t match the pressing that properly gave their possession an edge in 2010. Some of that returned in Kiev. Compare their second game of the campaign, an away defeat to Slovakia, with the win over Ukraine. 

Spain on Monday made 22 interceptions, compared to just seven in Bratislava. They were also sharper in terms of shots too. Having only got seven on target out of 20 against Slovakia, they hit seven at goal out of 11 in Ukraine. 

Of course, the contexts of the games were different - given that Ukraine absolutely had to beat Spain and therefore open out in a way few could against the 2010 world champions - but some of the performance still indicated a new vigour. 

The only real problem is maintaining it.

How do you think Spain will do at next summer's European Championship? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below