Big decisions loom for a Spain divided

Dermot Corrigan

Sunday’s World Cup exit to Russia has left Spanish football at another crossroads, with federation president Luis Rubiales now to choose between pointing the team off in a fresh direction, or using his power to feed current grievances and settle old scores.

The immediate reaction to Spain crashing out on penalties in Moscow was Andres Iniesta, 34, announcing his international career retirement.

Fellow members of Spain’s golden generation including Gerard Pique, 31, David Silva, 32, and Pepe Reina, 35, are also expected to bow out following a third straight international tournament disappointment.

“The hour has come for a definitive generation shift in Spanish football,” wrote Jordi Gil in Barcelona-based daily Sport yesterday.

The transition has been hard, and now a new totally new stage will open, leaving the new national coach to start again without any ties to the past.

However, national captain Ramos, 32, said he planned to add to his 156 international caps, as he was positive about the younger players coming through.

This is not the end of a cycle, some important players are going, but other younger ones are coming up strongly from below,” Ramos said in the Luzhniki Stadium mixed zone. “After leaving this World Cup with a terrible pain, I feel obliged to reach Qatar, even with a white beard.

More than the make-up of the team, Spanish football now needs to decide where they go from here. When Vicente Del Bosque left in 2014, Julen Lopetegui represented continuity as a previously successful former national youth coach. When Lopetegui was fired by Rubiales for insubordination on the eve of this year’s finals, emergency replacement Fernando Hierro was also promoted from within the system.

Rubiales made clear on Sunday evening that he was not one bit sorry for having sacked Lopetegui two days before Spain’s Group B opener against Portugal, even with Hierro having proven himself not really up to the job.

Fiercely criticised by many, especially at Lopetegui’s new club Real Madrid, for those calls, Rubiales has a huge decision to make now. Not just in deciding the identity of the next coach, but also the philosophy or identity of the new regime.

On taking over the national federation just last May, former players union chief Rubiales promised to sweep away the old-boys network which had festered under now disgraced former chief Angel Maria Villar. That process has not really begun yet, but the naming of the new coach offers an opportunity to begin from a clean slate.

Becoming the first team to complete over 1,000 passes at a World Cup, while creating very few clear chances to score, has also led many to question their previously successful possession-based approach. “There is no disloyalty in playing a style of football that is not tiki-taka,” said former La Roja striker turned local pundit Kiko Narvaez while flying home from Russia yesterday.

The biggest problem for Rubiales is a lack of attractive and available candidates. Names being mentioned yesterday include many unlikely to accept the job (Pep Guardiola, Unai Emery, and Rafa Benitez) along with others whose CVs appear lacking (Quique Sanchez Flores, Michel, and Paco Jemez).

Currently unemployed ex-Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has his backers, but fell out with many influential media figures during his time at the Camp Nou, having already been anathema to all at Real Madrid.

Real Betis coach Quique Setien, a possession football purist who guided the Andalusian team to an unlikely Europa League qualification last season, could perhaps modernise the tiki-taka approach.

Valencia’s Marcelino Garcia Toral would be a more pragmatic choice, with his teams characterised by their tough defence and efficient style.

A potential left-field name is Xavi Hernandez, currently finishing up his playing career in Qatar. Xavi was an early backer of Rubiales as Villar’s replacement in the federation’s top job, but is another who many at the Bernabeu would find hard to accept as Spanish national coach.

Meanwhile, Lopetegui’s fitness for the Madrid job is also being questioned, even before his new team has kicked a ball. A few early season defeats will see the knives out for someone seen by some as having betrayed the national team, and who came out fighting himself when presented by Blancos chief Florentino Perez hours after returning home from Russia.

Appointing a strongly Barcelona figure like Luis Enrique or Xavi to replace Lopetegui would pour further oil on those flames now. But Rubiales has already shown a liking for making big calls he knows will lead to division. A club versus country battle has already doomed Spain’s chances of success this summer, and could well now hamper them into the future too.