Spain’s Gerard Pique (front left)
At least Spain leaves the European Championship knowing exactly what it needs to do. Rebuild a team that’s beginning to look frayed at the edges.
After two consecutive European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012 and an intervening World Cup, Spain was dumped out of Euro 2016 at the round of 16-stage by a resilient and well-drilled Italy.
The 2-0 score-line did not in any way flatter the Italians, who pressed from the get-go and denied the Spaniards the opportunity to impose their passing dominance on the game.
It’s the second straight major tournament that Spain has failed to reach its previous heights. At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, La Roja failed to even get out of its group in what ranks as one of the least impressive title defenses.
The latest failure clearly highlights Spain’s need to replace a successful — but aging — generation of players. For starters, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta and David Silva are all more than 30 years of age.
“We are not favorites anymore,” Spain defender Gerard Pique said. “We are a team that can win matches, because of our name and our past, but we are not the best team. We showed against Italy, and also against Croatia [in the group stage], that we are a team with very good players but we are not in position to win tournaments right now.”
The 29-year-old Pique, who was an integral part of the teams that won the 2010 World Cup as well as Euro 2012, said Spain must have a big rethink.
“It’s not only about the level of the players,” he said. “The style of game, even though we want to keep playing the same way, has not been effective. It’s a little bit of everything. We all need to reflect about our style and our level to try to qualify [for the World Cup] in these next two years. If we really want to win major tournaments again we will have to reach another level.” MDT/AP
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