In the semi-final of the Primera RFEF play-off second leg, Real Sociedad B were rampant. Dominating the ball, with full-backs flying forward, their central midfielders meticulously prepared their attacks, edging closer and closer to the Alcorcon goal. It was a familiar sight, just like watching the seniors. The game itself had a regular repeating pattern from the 15th minute, even if the threat level undulated. Naturally, Alcorcon went through to face Castellon in the final.
The home side were leading 2-1 from the first leg, having ripped through the Real Sociedad defence on the break, Adrian Dalmau the difference as his quick-thinking made a two-on-two a one-on-one for Berto Romero, before pouncing on a loose ball for the winner. Disclaimer, ‘Sanse’ were missing their top goalscorer in Javier Marton, exiled after agreeing terms with Athletic Club, but even he was on a run of one goal in 10. As they looked for the leveller on the outskirts of Madrid, they were thwarted whenever they got to the big boss – in this case Jesus Ruiz.
That too felt familiar. Despite the sanguine nature of their planned attacks, there is no crash course for clearing one’s mind in front of goal – it’s a ten-thousand hours thing. Sergio Francisco, responsible for Sanse’s superb approach play, chose the sizeable figure of Jon Magunazelaia up front to begin with, without a reliable option to play number nine. Naturally an attacking midfielder, he dropped off his defenders expertly, helping his teammates through the gaps into the final third. But when Dalmau’s quick-witted decisions were necessary in the box, those didn’t come naturally to Magunazelaia.
In the second period, Ekain Azkune, more frequently used by Real Sociedad C all season, came on and gave the Alcorcon defenders an extra run to think about. Azkune took central defenders Jesus Castro and Jean-Sylvain Babin five yards deeper, so that when Magunazelaia, now on the left, got the ball with the chance to pick a teammate out, Iker Kortajarena was inside the box as he was asked to finish the cutback.
It took 66 minutes of building blocks, a change of formation, and a number of chances, but finally Sanse were on terms. And yet now they had to deal with Alcorcon being far more aggressive with their own attacks, roared forward by a noisy Estadio Santo Domingo. With Akune on, Sanse had more threat, but sacrificed control, and it’s a trade off Francisco decided wasn’t worth making in both legs.
The Alcorcon attacks mostly took the form of set pieces, but 16 minutes after Kortajarena had come to the rescue, Christian Borrego converted what was perhaps Alcorcon’s only chance from open play in the second half. Or at least it was a chance for him, but probably wouldn’t have been for La Real. One of two goalscorers at Fran Fernandez’s disposal along with Dalmau, ‘Chiki’ was moving away from goal towards the languid flight path of a clipped cross. With a similarly lazy trajectory, Chiki guided it into the bottom corner. It was placed so far away from Unai Marrero in goal that both the lack of pace on the ball and his dive were equally as irrelevant.
Ultimately, you can’t really explain the difference between the two sides without Dalmau or Chiki, who alter both the equation and the experience. Both condition the type of chances created, the approach play, but also the mentality those teammates play with. Knowing you just have to smell the goal rather than fashion something clear takes a little pressure off every pass. It’s an issue that permeates almost all of Spanish football.
Since Pep Guardiola’s second season with the Barcelona senior side, the idea of the false nine has been something actively promoted, and in his fourth campaign, Cesc Fabregas was deployed so effectively in that position that you didn’t even have to use a forward for your deception.
The number of top class strikers is on the wane across the game, but particularly in Spain, the scarcity has been dramatic. As midfielders of all shape and size pop out of the machine, strikers are asked to do more but they make the difference less. La Roja’s ceiling as an international team is that much lower that it had Luis Enrique popping paracetamol. Spain might have just won the Nations League on penalties, but their choice of forwards, Alvaro Morata (30) and Joselu Mato (33), is telling.
Both were developed as footballers before Guardiola’s Barcelona could alter the way forwards were seen, now just as responsible for working out the route to goal as being the destination. Joselu is perhaps the most reliable finisher, but not a long-term solution. Vicente del Bosque successfully applied Guardiola’s ideas with a false nine during the 2012 Euros, but since that success, there has been nobody with the ability to convert to the role as a midfielder, nor capable of re-claiming the position in a more traditional sense.
La Roja have always produced an array of talented technicians in the middle, but this drought of options up front, a near decade-long dry spell, follows on from 15 of Fernando Torres, David Villa and Raul Gonzalez. Guardiola has been enormously successful for a number of seasons with a number of systems, but only achieved the holy grail (again) after importing Norway’s most destructive force since the Vikings, Erling Haaland.
Perhaps Real Sociedad have the highest-performing academy in Spain currently – Zubieta has been the inspiration for their first Champions League qualification in nine years. Yet the departing Marton managed just 12 goals all season, and their lack of punch in the final third is something that has forced the first team to find forwards elsewhere too, in Aleksander Isak, Alexander Sorloth and then Umar Sadiq. That isn’t an option for the team Marton is joining. Traditionally Lezama is perhaps the most impressive academy operation, but unlike La Real, Athletic cannot fix their now tragicomic flaw in the market. Los Leones are perhaps the most nightmarish vision of what could happen to Spain.
Maybe the most prestigious youth system in Spain, La Masia, has famously struggled to work out the jump from lethal youth team goalscorer to professional assassin. Jean-Marie Dongou, Bojan Krkic and Abel Ruiz are highlights within a long list. Their best attempt of late, Iker Bravo, left initially for Bayer Leverkusen, and recently put them to the sword for Real Madrid Castilla. That too is a limp positive. La Fabrica produce more professional Spanish players than any other academy, but Bravo is an impact substitute for Uruguayan target man Alvaro Rodriguez. The latter will be learning his craft from Joselu next season in the first team, not the Spaniard. Looking up and down the pyramid, no wonder de la Fuente, previously in charge of the youth teams, is using the veterans.
The 33-year-old scored one of two goals that took Spain to the Nations League title, the other a gruesome mistake from the Italians. Joselu’s expert poaching won’t be available for the next five years, and he has now scored 60% of the goals of the de la Fuente era.
His success is admirable, earned, and yet simultaneously a symptom of what could become an existential crisis. The underlying desperation can be seen in the presence of Ansu Fati, who despite having done little to merit time in the Spain side with Barcelona, continues to enjoy the faith of de la Fuente but not Xavi Hernandez.
Until academies and Spanish football find a way to either prioritise or maximise the position again, until they ask forwards to be cold-blooded and ruthless before anything else, de la Fuente and La Roja will keep bumping their head against that ceiling.
Image via Lars Baron/Getty Images
While I appreciate the efforts to tie a lack of productivity in front of goal to Guardiola’s influence on the national team, the author hasn’t listed a single player that thrived as a goal scorer once outside of that environment. If the goal scoring talent is there, no academy is going to suppress it. Simply put, one cannot develop something that isn’t there to begin with.
It might just be better to stop at the (correct) assertion that Spain have (and haven’t had for some time now) no lethal forwards, and that certain tactical adjustments were made to ameliorate the problem. Based on the available talent up front, the record has been pretty good.