2014 FIFA WC: Spain - The end.

"Perhaps people will learn to love Spain when the show finally ends," - Del Bosque. 

I saw in their eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day had come when the strength of Spain failed, when they sacrificed Xavi Hernandez and broke the most important bonds of fellowship on the field. An hour of Dutch and another of shattered defences, when the era of Spanish football came crashing down. This day they fought, by all that they held dear on this good earth - but Spain are done with their philosophical game. The day had come.

People questioned whether Vincente Del Bosque would offer up the "high priests" of intelligent football, the master minds of both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, Xavi Hernandez and Xabi Alonso. 

The answer was yes, if that's what it took.






Grace sat on the bench, making room for desperation on the field. 

The desperation that other teams once clung to when they thought of the great Spanish Nation. 

Spain, unfamiliar with the desperate game, couldn't understand how to control it, and it overwhelmed them in the form of Holland first and now Chile, powerful and vigilant.

But every good thing must come to an end.

"We've been blessed by the generation we've been able to watch, but every great generation has a lifespan," and just when the Spanish had almost perfected the game to the point of poetic. 

But the game waits for no one, the game always moves on and in the end, it's the game that wins.

One by one, the legends step off the field, their untouchable aura - a memory. And we thank them for the football they've given. 

Spanish Legends: Xavi Hernandez
and Iker Casillas, friends since 16yrs of age.

A Spanish revolution: 

For the sake of their football, they would need to lose of hundreds of caps, 

millions of experienced football minutes, 

millions on millions of immaculate passes 

and even more sweat and tears. 







It means, for Spain, the call for another David Villa, a David Villa post-broken-leg, a striker willing to do and capable to do what a striker must, a striker that can work amongst world class individuals and still stand out, a Spanish striker. 

Legendary Spanish striker, David Villa Sanchez.

And a honorable farewell to the players in whom the legendary tiki-taka philosophy was ingrained from the moment they considered football, for the rest of their lifetime. 
Years on we may see another Xavi Hernandez, another maestro, whom the world cannot yet emulate. 

Another sweet sweet Iniesta, another calm spirit who moves through the game, trying to ignite La Furia Roja. 

Another Xabi alonso with another warm ginger bearded penalty that brings the only comfort in about a ton of pain. 

Maybe we can even hope for another Iker Casillas -  another San Iker, El Capitan, the light to us in dark places when all other lights go out, the rock of all Spaniards, the hope for his players and the strength of his fans.

But we can never have the first generation of First class Spaniards again, because the First is alone, and the First occurs only once, and it never happens again. The First legends who held the First world cup for the nation of Spain, the First legends whose First smiles faltered right from the national anthem of their First game, 

the First legends whose pressure forced them to kneel at the feet of their own name.

The legends are finished, but their football lives on in history surrounded by a tinge of the undefinable.

The FIFA WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS 2010

The EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 2008

The EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 2012

Whether changing or constant, the future always remains a mystery.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

P.s. There is so much to say about each of these Spanish players, that words alone would not do them justice. Words cannot describe the feeling they gave us when they controlled their game, the feeling of peace and calm, the feeling of content at their unquestioned domination, the feeling of gratification. 

I conclude with a voice in my head yelling, "There is so much about each of them that still needs to be written! The time they spent on the stage wasn't nearly enough to get everything down! There is so much poetry, so much drama, so much magnificence that has yet to be created from their football, there is so much to say, so much to write, and such little time." *sobs*

The end.

-evieroo