Why does Spain have terrible luck in tournaments?

[Jager]

You would figure with their talent pool, Spain would have much more success than they have had?? Whis is this?

Discuss.....

[DavidMc]

this is a really hard question. Spain have so much potential, they have so many great players. And when a major tournament comes around, Spain are always mentioned as potential winners. But somewhere along the line, it always goes wrong for them. Maybe a question of management?

[Jager]

I think their is no doubt in my mind that the team makeup and coaching is partly responsible for this, if not all. If you don't have the right attitude on the pitch, you will never ever get far.

Getting to a final would be great for Spain, but I feel Portugal are closer to that, than them.

[Lemmy]

Spain are the best team to not have won a major tournament

[DavidMc]

Portugal are more consistent than Spain I think. Coaching must be responsible for their underachievement in major finals. Everyone knows that they have had the players in the past to do well, and they have the players now aswell. They need to find a manager who can organise them better. They could compete with the world super-powers, Italy, Argentina etc, just a case of them believing that. Maybe a confidence thing with the players? Because of their shortcomings in recent tournaments?

[jec1]

Portugal was coached by Antonio Oliveira in the past decade, he was crap. We had trouble scoring, finishing plays and we even had a golden generation that was thriving but improved in time.

I think with Spain, it's the fundamentals. Lack of finishing and not being able to produce a superstar. They need someone that can take over a game. I don't think Torres is that player. I've been watching the U20 and Bueno even when subbed has an influence in the game. You can blame it on coaching but it's the players that peform who have to take blame.

[kyan]

nah finishing ain't the problem, look at the strikers they've had in the past.

It's a couple of things imo, the managers are never great, there's too much division in the camp and they choke, just like the English NT, but for some reason that gets overlooked with the Spaniards...

[jec1]

Teams Choking

And why is that?

Is it because of mental preparation?

Spain is too good, if not better then croatia yet they are growing as a team. We have the talent in place, I can't figure out why we are a bust.

[Sven]

It's weird considering they normally walk all youth tournaments passed 10 years.

[jec1]

At the youth stage, Players are still learning. I think coaching may have something to do with it but in all honesty, Spain needs to fire there coach and regroup.

[Jager]

I think its their coaching, they are not adapting to teams, they seem to play the same way all the time. It works at the begining, where they usually look very good, scoring a lot.

But as things get tougher, and defenses get stronger, they seem to "cave in".

Maybe they need an outsider to coach.

Who is the manager at the moment?

[lionel]

^their manager is that very old guy that said racist things about henry... can't remember the name. maybe aragunies or something. he was almost sacked so many times so I'm not sure he's still on charge.

first, I don't agree that spain are the best team to not have won the WC. holland had much better teams in history who had failed to win. atm spain are better, yes.

bad luck is something I beleive in. could be the reason.

spain never had a player that could be considered as a legend(and a bit more), the type of: pele, maradona, (even: ) , eusebio, charlton, cruif, platini, zadane... their best player ever was a real legend, a HUGE legend! di stephano is the name. BAD LUCK prevented him from playing at a WC. never played in that tournament.
without a player like that its hard to win a WC. unless your italy jk.

I understand the question here and think its interesting. but why should spain win the WC? they aren't better than italy/germany/france/englkand in their players, and not in managment(except england). they never were the best team in the world, anyone thinks they were?

so I prefer disscussing why do they get knocked-out early. I do think they should get to the semi-finals more often.
(if it was what you meant here then forgive me)

agreed about the coaching. sucks.

[Pat Murphy]

Luis Aragones hasn't done a good job with Spain, but the most frustrating thing for me is that he has a huge pool of young talent like Raul Albiol, Alexis, Miggy Torres and he just won't touch them and goes for Marchena, Javi Navarro, Angulo and so on.

Part of the problem is that Spain have never had a World Class defence and look like they never will. The discipline is also not there. The wingers are all out attack, so often are the wingbacks and in central midfield they often go for a creative combination of Xavi, Xabi, Cesc, Iniesta which is not entirely defensive. They need to work on taking their chances also as if you saw the Sweden or Northern Ireland games they just want to pass the ball round the area and had no directness and then when forward they get torn apart and their defence turns into custard.

In youth teams they tend to get by on attacking talent as the youth teams aren't as defensively sophisticated but when they come against someone like Italy they are totally outclassed. They need to give the coaching a rethink. The pressure of doing well in tournaments and choking every time may also play a part. Lionel also has a point about not having a really legendary player although players like Luis Suarez were good.

[jec1]

pat, I think he is hindering there development. You need to start those kids, WTf isn he the head coach then?

I blame the managment, The only want to see the team make money, and leave the fans out to dry.

[z187]

Originally Posted by Jager

I think their is no doubt in my mind that the team makeup and coaching is partly responsible for this, if not all. If you don't have the right attitude on the pitch, you will never ever get far.

Getting to a final would be great for Spain, but I feel Portugal are closer to that, than them.

Spain is more well rounded, has alot of depth and has better Striking talent (at the CF ) then Portugal.

Portugal has the upperhand in defensive organization/structure and having one or two players of superstar power. a Player who can score goals, change the game, make goals for others. Portugal had players such as Luis Figo, Rui Costa.. now they have Cristiano Ronaldo who has impressed in his young career.

Spain had Raul Gonzalez who looked capable of fulfilling such a role, but he turned out to be a disapointment in the international tournaments.

Although Spain has many great defenders, Portuguese have always been known for being more aggressive defensively and I think thats a big problem with Spain, they need to be more defensively organized in tournaments. look at the world cup they went up 1-0 vs France then France flipped it around and won 3-1... Portugal on the other hand lossed due to a soft penalty call and came close a few times to equalising but couldnt apply the finishing touch... hmm maybe Portugal could show Spain how to defend and control the game from midfield, and spain show portugal how to score the goals then both teams could improve alot hahaah.

Portugal tends to have a couple junk players on their team, while Spain always has all good players. But I think its better to have a bunch of good players, a couple superstars and a couple average players (i.e. Portugal in recent times) then just a bunch of good players (i.e. Spain). You need a player like Figo, or Cristiano Ronaldo who can turn the game on its head.

Spain qualifies alot more often then Portugal though, but when we qualify we usually go deeper.

Both countries still need to step up, play more tough and have the killer instinct in future tournaments if they want to win anything.