Can any other international team really play like Spain?

With England set to face Spain in a friendly on Saturday there has been lots of comments from some of the players and staff involved in the two setups.

Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina, who is in Spanish squad has had his say by saying that nobody can play like his home nation.

Philosophy

The Liverpool keeper told the press: “We have found a great generation of players the same age. These players know how to win because they have won already in their club divisions.

“It is not always possible to play our way. It depends on the player and the team and depends on the philosophy you have. But not everyone can play as we do because no-one has the quality of players we have.”

Style

I do believe the Spanish Tiki-taka style of play is unique in international football. It has a strong Barcelona influence to it, obviously with a lot of the Spanish first eleven coming from the Spanish champions. Keeping the ball is a key to Spain’s style of play.

As Reina says a lot of the other international teams just don’t have the players capable of producing this style of play. The Spanish players are also born and brought up on a different football mentality. That just can’t be copied, as much as people would like to copy it.

Choice

The fact that Spain head coach Vicente Del Bosque has so many quality players to choose from means that he can rotate his squad and the team still plays with the same philosophy, no matter who is on the pitch.

The Spanish first eleven are that good that a lot of the time Juan Mata and David Silva can’t get in it. Then there is even the likes of Barca’s new midfield prodigy Thiago Alcantara, who Del Bosque has just demoted back down to the under-21 squad.

I’m sure he would probably walk into a lot of other international teams but with Spain’s squad so strong he has to be happy with a place in the under-21 setup.

Competition

I’m afraid England just can’t compete with Spain at the moment. England can’t play like Spain because our players don’t seem to be able to keep the ball long enough. They are also not as patient as the Spanish players.

The style of the English Premier League and La Liga differ greatly as well which means that England will never be able to play like Spain because the players haven’t grown up in that style of play.

Encouraging

What has been encouraging for England is the style of play that the likes of Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers has encouraged. Swansea played good possession football in the Championship for a few years and when they got promoted people thought they would adapt their style to survive.

However they haven’t they have continued that same style in the top flight because Rodgers has instilled in the players the belief that they can pass the ball and get results. At times the Premier League is a dogfight but slowly teams are starting to play football again and that will be good for all the British international teams.

Germany

The closest team I have seen to Spain’s style in international football in recent times is Germany. The Germans currently have a very exciting group of young players. The likes of Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller burst onto the international scene at last years World Cup but there are even more players coming through the German youth ranks.

The likes of Dortmund wonderkid Mario Gotze and Bayern’s Toni Kroos are yet more exciting young players to come into the Germany national side in recent times. The amount of talent coming through the German youth ranks is frightening at the moment.

The current Germany side have the making of a great team and if they live up to their potential then they can go a long way.

Early

However I believe it is too early for Germany to be compared to the all conquering current Spanish side. Spain have been there and done it and I suspect they are going to continue to dominate football for awhile to come.

The likes of Germany and Holland may be able to challenge that Spanish stranglehold in the near future but for they are just a step behind. As for England I’m afraid it will be a long time before we could ever challenge for the major prizes. Sad as it may be we just haven’t got good enough players.

Can anybody play football like Spain?