Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
Las Rozas, Spain: “Tiki-Taka”? Spain manager Julen Lopetegui certainly does not despise ball possession, but his national team is now a lot more than just that.
”Defining tiki-taka is very, very simple. At the end of the day, there are loads of issues that affect football,” he told dpa in an interview at the Spanish federation headquarters in the Madrid suburb of Las Rozas.
Lopetegui’s arrival on the job following Euro 2016 relaunched “La Roja,” who have not lost a game since. Under their new manager, Spain’s results are good, but so is their style, which is again wowing their fans.
The 2010 world champions have kept the identity that made them iconic, their famous “tiki-taka,” but Lopetegui has added options, shooting power and confidence to put Spain among the top favourites to win the World Cup title in Russia 2018. The challenge now is to live with such high expectations.
dpa: You played the 1994 World Cup as a keeper. How do you feel about it now, as a manager?
Lopetegui: Those of us who love the world of football have always grown up with World Cups. Having the opportunity to coach your country’s team at a World Cup is wonderful, just like, for the lads, being able to take part in it is something that is hard to beat. Excitement is the feeling that prevails above all others.
dpa: Portugal are set to be Spain’s first rivals in Russia. How can you stop Cristiano Ronaldo?
Lopetegui: There is Portugal and there is Cristiano. Cristiano plays with a whole team behind him. We respect the qualities of a rival who, in this case, has one of the unique players in the history of world football, a man who has also been playing at a fantastic level over the past two years. That will make his national team even stronger, but we will try to fight them the only way we know how to do it: with our own football, with our own team, with our own playing style and by playing a great game.
dpa: Do you think there is too little talk about Iran and Morocco, the other two teams in the group? Could they be more dangerous than people think?
Lopetegui: Within the team, we talk a lot about them. Iran are by far the best team in Asia over the past six years. At the last World Cup, Argentina had great trouble to beat them. They have already had the same manager [Carlos Queiroz] for seven years. They will be a really difficult team. And Morocco are quite similar. They have great
individual talent, particularly the current generation. We are facing the European champions, the best team in Asia and the best team in Africa.
dpa: Will this be the most balanced World Cup in recent times?
Lopetegui: All World Cups are balanced. This will be a very balanced World Cup because teams get to such tournaments better prepared all the time. All national teams. That evolution and the tournament’s format reduce the distance between teams. I think we will watch very good football. With the level of players and teams that we will have in Russia, we will definitely watch top-level football.
dpa: How valuable is the 6-1 against Argentina with an eye on the World Cup?
Lopetegui: No, no, that is already in the past. Whatever has happened already is in the past. The past is always useful to learn, to see what you have done well, what you need to improve, and to forget quickly and prepare what comes next. I think we are very clear about that. We have tried to make the most of the games we have played, the recent friendlies, to keep growing and to keep consolidating various issues, and now the score has no relevance whatsoever for what might happen in Russia. In Russia, games will start 0-0 and we will need to win them on the pitch, against whoever our rivals and not based on what we have done previously.
dpa: Can Argentina recover from that blow?
Lopetegui: Without a doubt. Just like we will draw our conclusions, Argentina will draw theirs and they will probably be positive. I have no doubt that Argentina will be one of the greatest teams at the World Cup. No doubt whatsoever.
dpa: Against Argentina, Iago Aspas’ goal came off a 70-metre kick from David de Gea. Are Spain more than just tiki-taka?
Lopetegui: Defining tiki-taka is very, very simple. At the end of the day, there are loads of issues that affect football. Teams need to handle play, improve and grow. And the more complete a team is and the greater its ability, the better team it will be. We obviously try to evolve and grow and try not to disregard any strengths we might boost as a team.
dpa: At one point, Germany modeled their efforts on Spain. What can Spain now copy from Germany?
Lopetegui: I don’t think Germany copied Spain. What Germany did was to evolve, grow and become an extraordinary team at all levels, all of them. But not to copy anyone. Imitations don’t work. You need to grow, and I think Germany attained a fantastic evolution of their own players, of their sense of play, respecting the conditions Germany have always had. The result is what we have seen. An extraordinary team, with great ability as a group, with great individual ability and also with different ways to approach games tactically. All that wealth was also achieved under a manager who has been at the helm for a really long time. [Juergen] Klinsmann started it, Loew followed. Loew has managed to ensure that the feeling you get whenever you watch Germany is that they are a very good football team.
dpa: Loew has been with the German national team for over a decade. Would you like to develop a project like that?
Lopetegui: I think that continuity in any project is something that all managers want, because that is obviously the way to consolidate lots of concepts and to evolve them. Even more so with a national team, because you have very little time to interact with the lads. So you need to make the most of that reduced interaction, and having more time will give you more options. I think Germany deserve what they are achieving.
dpa: Do you miss coaching a club and the daily work that entails?
Lopetegui: A national team manager also does daily work. Many people don’t know that, because it is different. At the end of the day, a manager’s job is also to coach and prepare teams to win. Your interventions are less frequent, but they are a lot more intense. A club manager’s task, with matches every three days, is amazing. But so is a national team manager’s task, when he is lucky enough to qualify for a World Cup, as in this case.
