Hey guys. Hope you’re loving the World Cup as much as we are! Be sure to check out our coverage of yesterday’s games here. In the meantime, welcome to Part Two of our interview with Spanish Football Journalist, Graham Hunter. Part One can be found here, where we chat briefly about going to Brazil, what its like to shadow one of the greatest teams in history and what Spain’s chances are like of retaining the FIFA World Cup!
Read on to find Graham’s thoughts on the lessons Spain will need to learn from the Confederations Cup, what impact the newer faces in the squad can have as well as a brief discussion regarding England!
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If they both win their respective groups, Spain and Brazil won’t meet until the final. Should they both get there, how much should we read into what happened in the Confederations Cup Final last summer and what lessons will Spain have learned from that defeat in order to better cope with the hosts this time around?
This time around, Spain need to cope better with the climactic conditions and all of the travelling they’re going to have to do. Their tiredness and not rotating the starting XI between the semi-final and the final as much as they maybe should have done were major factors in the big defeat to Brazil last summer.
The Provisional Squad had a lot of the usual suspects in it – Iniesta, Xavi, Casillas, Ramos, Torres, Villa etc. – all players that have played a key role in allowing Spain to have the success they’ve had in the last 6 years. Also in there though were Koke, Dani Carvajal and Alberto Moreno; for some of our readers who perhaps aren’t too familiar with these players, what can fans expect to see from these three in particular, should they make the final squad for the tournament?
If he’s on form, Koke in particular could be very important to Spain. His incredible energy, ability to win many tackles and high amount of goal assists will definitely be big assets for Spain; especially at a time when Xavi can’t be asked to play seven full matches on the trot.
Given the amount of top-class youth talent you’ve seen coming through the Spanish league and into the national side over recent years, how highly do you rate Luke Shaw, Ross Barkley and Raheem Sterling?
I want to be careful here. I don’t claim to be expert on subjects which I can’t study properly. Shaw, when I’ve seen him, seems to. Shaw, when I’ve seen him, seems to fit into the modern template for an attacking full-back or wing-back. He’s clearly athletic, clever, positionally quite clever and talented. Whether he’s yet a defender’s defender I’d say is a question but a natural one given that he’s so young. Watching his play enthuses me as I enjoy seeing a player of his style and hearing good things about his upbringing and personality further enthuses me. He has a lot to learn but probably has the capacity to learn it.
Barkley is evidently a talent but it’s also true that the enormous attention and excitement in England whenever anyone of any reasonable ability comes through is a threat. It’s vital that he doesn’t get carried away with the wave of praise and excitement and it’s also vital that people start to speak carefully and analytically about him rather than simply saying that he’s already magnificent and a dead cert to start for England. Clearly he’s got tremendous power, personality and a will to win but again there’s a lot of learning to come and was patently over-played this season such that he was tired and making some ragged decisions in the latter part of the season. Again though, I’m enthused by him and delighted that England have got a young buck of his ability beginning to emerge.
All I’ve said about Shaw and Barkley, I said of Sterling when he was coming through last season. I knew, as anyone of experience knew, that to ask too much of him repeatedly would hinder his development and at his age that’s vital. You’ve seen the benefits this season as he’s more central to the play of the team, has more stamina, makes better decisions and has added more of a goal-scoring threat. He’s a thrilling player and I hope he continues to think and develop his game.
You spoke in your latest book about how Spain viewed their fixture with England at Old Trafford in 2007 as a real turning point in their fortunes which played a big part in them going on to become what they are today. Should these two sides meet again, even if England lose, do you think that there’s any comparison here and that this fixture could act as that same spark, but for Roy Hodgson’s men this time around?
No, I don’t think there’s any comparison in the ‘breakthrough’ Spain felt that they managed that day at Old Trafford compared to if England were to play Spain and beat them; the cases are totally separate. Iniesta told me that they cleared out generations of ‘over respect’ for England and English football that day. Doing so at such a young age and at Old Trafford were great liberators for these players; I don’t think there’s the same feeling in England. Spain at that stage felt inferior and felt vulnerable while in England there’s this constant ‘we are the best and it’s only a matter of time before we show it’ – a mentality bred into the players by the media and by fans. I hope England play with all the technique of Spain and the will to win of the British Isles but how they achieve it is a much more complicated process.
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Again, be sure to head over to Backpage Press or Graham’s official website where you can check out Graham’s most recent works such as Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble for unprecedented insights into the Spanish National Squad and also Barca: The Making of The Greatest Team in the World for an in depth look at what made Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona tick!