The apostle of the tiqui taca

One of the keys to the success of the Spanish selection It was his good relationship with the press. It had been shown in Euro 2008 that not only did not get along and attend to special envoys prevent them from winning, rather the opposite. After the final stages with clashes between journalism and internationals and coaches, a new era had arrived with Luis Aragones and that continued with Forest. In that good relationship, each medium began to have their personalized interviews at the headquarters of Potchefstroom.

If on the 22nd, after the Del Bosque press conference in which he said that if he were a player he would be Busquets, attended U.S Cesc and it was front page saying that “Xavi must be the helm of the National Team “, that June 23, he gave us precisely Xavi Hernandez Another extensive interview in which he sacked at all points of the open debate around The Red for his defeat in the debut against Switzerland and his irregular play before Honduras. Xavi, idol of Barca, was the cover of AS on the 24th.

Xavi was one of the leaders of Spain. Talking about soccer with Xavi was a privilege and more in the middle of a World Cup. Enthusiastic and persuasive conversationalist with his ideas, the interview had to be interrupted because we left on the hour and he was almost fined for being late for lunch.

The headline he gave us closed any discussion about the possibility of changing the style. “With it you can win the World Cup,” he said. For Xavi, the National Team had played better against Switzerland, despite the defeat, than against Honduras: “If there is a marksmanship problem, but they played well against Switzerland and the problem was losing.” Xavi, whom Jesus Paredes, Luis's assistant, he had baptized as the Von Karajan de la Selección, said that giving input to extremes “makes the model change a little, but sometimes it is necessary”.

We asked Xavi if he plays at ease in the position where he acts with Del Bosque on the occasion that Luis had secured in Al Jazeera that this was not his ideal site. Von Karajan from Sabadell acknowledged that he was playing a little later, but that he was not uncomfortable. And he came out in defense of Luis: “No one can speak of Luis. Now he comments and says what he sees in his own way, but those of us who know him know that it is not a grudge.”

To the question “Is Spain lacking a spark?”, Xavi referred to the state of the pitch for the first time, making a request that would always be customary after that World Cup: “Mind you, it's not an excuse, but the pitch is very dry and that favors the destroyer. FIFA has to take care of that. I have asked that they irrigate the fields, that they help the show and offensive football. ” In that petition Xavi is shown as an apostle of the tiqui taca, of possession and position soccer with which he triumphed with Barça and Spain.