Hard to dispute Spain as best ever

By Orville Higgins

It's the talk of the town: Is the current Spain team the best of all time? Winning a World Cup in-between two Euro tournaments certainly puts them right up there with the very best. Who can we compare them with?

History tells us about a Uruguay team that won two Olympic football titles back to back in the 1920s, plus the 1930 World Cup. They must have been some team, but there is no visual evidence by which to judge them. In more contemporary times, the Brazil teams of 1970 (and, to a lesser extent, 1958) are generally considered to be the standard by which all other teams are judged.

I didn't see the '58 Brazil team. Again, sadly, video footage of complete games in that tournament is virtually non-existent. I did see the 1970 Brazil team, however, and that was an awesome unit.

If I had to judge between that team and Spain, however, I am going with Spain. No team that I have seen has been as good as the Spaniards in making good teams look ordinary. In that 1970 World Cup, Brazil were breathtaking, but they could be made to look human. In a 1-0 victory over England in that tournament, Brazil were made to work hard, and at times England looked like they could have gone on to win.

The difference with Spain is that at their best, they never look like losing. Occasionally, they do lose (like that shock 1-0 defeat to Switzerland in the last World Cup), but very rarely do you see Spain play and feel that the other team will get the better of them.

Spain are maybe the best team ever at ball possession. The old maxim is true: If one team has the ball, the other team can't score. This means that Spain is arguably the most difficult team to score against in the history of the game.

Their goalkeeper Iker Casillas kept five clean sheets in the just-concluded Euro! Spain's defence was breached just once in open play in the whole tournament! In the last World Cup which they won, they conceded only two goals. In the 2008 Euro, they conceded a mere three goals. Which means that in the last three big tournaments they have played, Spain have conceded just six goals in regular play.

BRAZILIANS NO COMPARISON

By contrast, the Brazilians who won the World Cup in 1970 conceded seven goals in six games. In other words, they leaked more in that one tournament than the Spain team would have given up in three separate competitions! Indeed, the Brazilians in 1970 yielded more than a goal a game (although it must be pointed out that Brazil were themselves a scoring machine.)

All this doesn't mean that Spain are defensive. They are not as straightforward in their attacking approach as most teams, but they set out to win - and usually do - and oftentimes against teams that either can't match them or park the bus in front of goal.

What was of interest in this Euro tournament was that Spain played much of the tournament without an out-and-out striker. Some thought they were crazy, but what Spain told us was that goalscoring is not so much an individual art, but the finishing touch after a combined team effort.

Spain's main tactic was to control the midfield with players who were all comfortable with the ball. They are all brilliant at off-the-ball movement and getting into goalscoring positions. They hardly take a shot on goal in the traditional sense, but see scoring almost like a final pass.

The brute force employed by most teams, with big, athletic players and speedy full backs who cross the ball, is alien to Spain's game. They propose to defeat you with more brain than brawn. This Spanish team may well be providing the blueprint for how future teams will play.

Very few teams in history, in whatever sport, have combined so effortlessly an eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing style, with such ruthless efficiency. In other words, Spain are probably the best example, in contemporary team sports, of style and substance in glorious union.

KLAS sportscaster Orville Higgins is the 2011 winner of the Hugh Crosskill/Raymond Sharpe Award for Sports Reporting. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.