Throughout the years, Spanish soccer has been at the forefront of tactical innovation with its mastery of passing and ball control. With the legacy of Xavi and Ennis carrying forward the skills of Lodicas Jandy and Berti, controlling the tempo of the game seems to be the norm in Spanish soccer. However, in the first game of the year against Croatia, this traditional statistic took a dramatic turn - Spain's possession was just 47%, the first time they had lost it since 16 years ago. Despite this, they came away with a 3-0 victory.
Since defeating Germany in the Euro 2008 final with 46% possession, Spain have played 136 official matches in the last 16 years and have always been ahead of their opponents in terms of possession. However, in the battle of Croatia, they adjusted their tactics to use speed as a weapon and reduce possession, but unexpectedly reaped an atypical victory. The result of such a game can not help but impress people with the tactical wisdom of Spanish soccer.
After the match, Spanish leader Andy Fu expressed his satisfaction with the result, saying that high possession is not always a recipe for a guaranteed victory. Today's game proved that our team has surprising strengths. The intelligent decision-making of the players and the speedy forward line proved that we can deal a fatal blow to our opponents even if we don't have a high percentage of possession.
