What went wrong???

When the World cup in Brazil kicked off, Spain (La Roja) was set to defend
their 2010 title. It was all looking good when the likes of Santi Carzola,
Juan Mata, Da gea to mention but a few were listed in the 23-man squad.

Peeeeeeeee! Of goes the whistle as La Roja played against The Netherlands
(Orange Men). As the First half rolled out, Diego Costa was fouled in the
18 box thus Spain was awarded a penalty kick, Xabi Alonso took it and
scored. Not more than ten minutes later, Robin Van Persie scored an
equalizer and from that Point, the game change, La Roja ended the game in
defeat with an abysmal score line of 1-5. Thus 'tiki taka finally not
paying off for La Roja.

* What is tiki taka?*

This is a form of tactics where a false 9 is adopted, where opponents are
left chasing shadows, where the ball is held up in the midfield, more like
a geometric pattern-making and opponents are bamboozled.

The Spanish side used *tiki taka* for a period of six years and thus
Barcelona adopted this system of play.

Spain is the best football country in the world (not sure this will be the
same after this tournament) for six years, they dominated the football
scene with *tiki taka*.

Then came 2013, Jose Mourinho did a sort of decoding of tiki taka on the
Barcelona team, Bayern Munich also did a double(Champions League
semi-finals)on Barcelona. At the Confederations Cup, Brazil beat Spain to
clinch the title. And ever since *tiki taka* has been questioned. This
become more critical when the Barcelona team did not clinch any title in
the just concluded football season.



* Now how did it all go wrong?*

One thing is for sure, there is no perfect system. Thus Spain could not
have remained a champion for life. Therefore, what can be pointed out is
that;

Fatigue has set in followed by the aging of the engine room of Spain in
the likes of Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and David Villa who are 34,30
and 32 respectively.

Football as a whole needs energy, and tiki taka as a tactic demands such energy. And
these players have passed their peak.*

The lack of an alternative playing pattern is also negative for the Spanish
as if plan A fails, a plan B should be introduced, but this is not the
case of the Spanish champions.

It’s sad seeing a reign end so abruptly. Whatever the case, we will miss
seeing *tiki taka*, Will there be a replacement of the tactics in Spain or
will they improve on what is on ground??
Adios tiki taka, Adios!