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Recipe for success Spain succeeds by regressing to soccer's essence
Updated: Wednesday March 14, 2001 12:14 PM
It has been the story of the season in Europe... again. Spainish clubs have at times looked like turning the UEFA Cup and the Champions League into extensions of the Primera Liga, such has been their sheer dominance. There will definitely be two Spanish teams in the UEFA Cup semifinals (there might have been more if they had not been playing each other), and there are three in the Champions League semis. It's fair to say they've run roughshod over Europe, with little resistance from the continent. Serie A clubs, of course, raised the white flag a long time ago, leaving just Manchester United, Galatasaray, Bayern Munich and a few others desperately trying to stop the advance. How did this happen?
Spanish clubs dominated the early years of European competition, winning thirteen titles (including Real Madrid's six European crowns) in the 1950s and 1960, blowing away the other top European leagues: Italy (7 titles), England (5) and Germany (2). They slumped badly in the 1970s and 1980s however. Liga clubs managed just six titles (four Cup Winners' Cups and two UEFA Cups) in that span, the same as Serie A, except Italian clubs won two European Cups in that period. It was Germany (10 titles) and especially England (15) who dominated those two decades. The 1990s were Italy's personal fiefdom as Serie A garnered 13 titles, as many as the other three nations combined: Germay (4), England (4) and Spain (5). This would suggest that European prowess is cyclical, but what is interesting is the way Spain built its success. The current generation of home-grown talent is impressive, but is probably no better than it was in other eras at least as far as bona fide superstars are concerned. The only Spanish players who would routinely turn up in a list of the world's top 20 are Raul and Gaizka Mendieta, so clearly foreign imports have played a part. But Italy and England have spent more than Spain and, at least in Italy's case, have probably acquired better foreigners, so clearly it's not just a case of buying success. Real Madrid general manager Jorge Valdano thinks he knows the answer. The Argentine-born Valdano has been in the Spanish game for 25 years, first as a player (1975-87) and later as a coach (1992-98). He is one of the brightest, most intellectual figures in the game and a World Cup winner (1986) to boot. "Spain's success is based on diversity," he says. "The Spanish game has had a fundamental insecurity, an inferiority complex if you will, for a long time. They addressed this by looking abroad and opening themselves up to external influences." True, but other European leagues, particularly Italy and England, have also imported foreign talent in industrial quantities... "Yes, but both England and Italy focused primarily on bringing in players, rather than ideas," he explains. "Both countries, unlike Spain, have had relatively few foreign managers and a coach influences the game at all levels much more than a player." Indeed, the facts bear this out. While Spain has featured the likes of Leo Beenhakker, John Toshack, Johan Cruyff, Luis Van Gaal, Radomir Antic, Hector Cuper, Fabio Capello, etc., Italy has had three succesful foreign managers of note -- Zdenek Zeman, Nils Liedholm and Sven Goran Eriksson -- and the first two were practically raised (at least in a footballing sense) in Italy. It's a similar story in England. If you exclude Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli (who were making their managerial debuts and thus had not been formed professionally as coaches), the only non-Britons of note are Gerard Houllier and Arsene Wenger. "It's not just a question of having foreign managers, it's a question of being able to absorb their ideologies, to digest and understand them," Valdano continues. "Italy and England, unlike Spain, have always been very sure of themselves. Generally speaking, they have long been convinced of the superiority of their style of play and so have been more reluctant to accept foreign influences on a tactical and organizational level." "Serie A, for example, has largely remained loyal to the Italian way of playing, based on tactical rigor and defensive prowess. It has always placed the team ahead of the individual. Look at what happened to [Gianfranco] Zola, [Roberto] Baggio and other great No. 10s. They have three alternatives: become pure forwards, sit on the bench or go abroad." "Spain on the other hand has had an inferiority complex. The Real team of the 1950s and 1960s was the benchmark and naturally everybody fell short, so they desperately looked abroad for help and gladly learned what they could." Valdano makes an excellent point. Italy has shut out foreign coaches and forced foreign players to bend to the Italian way of doing things. Spain has embraced the former and allowed the latter to be themselves. La Liga incorporated the best of the footballing schools: Holland, Italy, Argentina. It also found a way to marry European tactics and organization with South American individual skills. Most importantly, it found the right balance between entertainment and results. "Johan Cruyff played a key role in this," says Valdano. "He taught Spain that you can be entertaining and successful at the same time. Slowly, the Spanish public, unlike perhaps Italy or England, came to value the aesthetic quality, the entertainment factor of attacking soccer over mere results. Now, the Spanish public often demands entertainment ahead of results. Spain has brought the fun back into the game." And, as any management textbook will tell you, a happy employee will produce more than one who is not enjoying himself. Put another way, Spanish teams seem to be motivated by a desire to have fun, and what can be more fun than winning? Italian and German clubs appear to be motivated by a fear of failure. Perhaps this is why they tend to be more mentally tough and indeed, mental toughness is one area in which Liga clubs can still grow. Can the Spanish model be replicated elsewhere? Probably. Ultimately, soccer is a game all professionals (indeed, all of us who have ever kicked a ball) initially got into it because it was fun, not because we wanted to win at all costs. In a sense, Spain has regressed to the basic essence of the game, fun and creativity, without losing sight of the fact that you need tactics, professionalism and organization to succeed. Throw in the fact that rather than wallowing in their insecurity, they've used it as a spur to learn and absorb as much as possible from others, and you've got a recipe for success. Based in London, Gabriele Marcotti writes a weekly column on international soccer for CNNSI.com.
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