Former world champion Diego Maradona criticized the Spanish national football team and their coach Vicente del Bosque for their inability to adapt their playing style to modern football. The Argentine is convinced that the failures of "Barcelona" in the last two seasons should have clearly shown Spaniards that "Tiki-Taka" no longer works.
"In the opening group B matches, we clearly saw evidence that the Spanish national team's game has become outdated. The Spaniards have been playing the Tiki-Taka style for some time now and it is a wonderful way to play football - football fans and experts around the world admired it for years. This helped Spain win three major titles in 2008-2012.
However, V. Del Bosque forgot that European football clubs have already found an antidote to the style promoted by "Barcelona", which also forms the basis of the Spanish national team's game. Football played at a high pace with fast counterattacks works perfectly against the Spaniards' game," wrote D. Maradona in a review for the "Time of India" portal.
In the opening matches of Group B, the defending world champions "La Roja" suffered the biggest defeat ever experienced by a team defending the title of world champions. The Dutch footballers defeated the Spaniards by an impressive 5-1.
"The Spaniards refuse to admit that their style is outdated and they make no changes. Meanwhile, the Dutch once again made a revolution in the concept of modern football in these matches.
The Spanish national team's defense had no chance. Not even Iker Casillas could help. Louis van Gaal did an incredible job with a fairly young Dutch team and achieved a great victory. If they continue like this, in the quarterfinals they should avoid the Brazilians," wrote D. Maradona.
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