2010 FIFA World Cup: Five Reasons Spain Lost To Switzerland

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You don't need to be in Spain to comprehend quite how shocked the Spanish are over their team's shocking disappointment against Switzerland yesterday.

Following their bitter 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Swiss, the Spanish press have been quick to lament La Furia Roja's epic failure in Durban.

Many of the newspapers have written how Spain were too "baroque", too elaborate in their play for their own good, before reminding the public that this is "Spain's worst start to a World Cup since 1998."

Daily newspaper El Mundo was also quick to remind La Selección that over 10 million Spaniards were watching the spectuculat defeat in South Africa.

It seems that today, the word "derrota," meaning defeat, is the most common word in Spain.

Now headlines across the web are wondering: Why did Spain lose?

According to la prensa española (the spanish press), here are five reasons why Spain lost 1-0 to Switzerland in their opening Group H match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

A Lot of Ball, Little Result

Apart from the efforts of Xabi Alonso, who rattled the crossbar with a thunderous shot that could've stopped all this malarky had it been just one or two inches lower, as well as Gerard Pique's "bullfight" with Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio, Spain didn't do much at all with the vast majority of possessions that they had.

"The excessive amount of possession the Spanish had made the players predictable and cancelled out the possible effect of surprising the Swiss defence when attacking," according to a blog on Spanish website 20 Minutes.

A Confused Defence

"Gelson Fernandes' goal for Switzerland came about through an equal combination of bad luck and confusion", the majority of Spanish journalists recognise.

The ball bounced around like a pinball, rebounding off goalkeeper Iker Casillas, defender Gerard Pique and Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok before finding its way through to Fernandes.

Many papers seems to fail to recognise however that Casillas came off his line too early, and left-back Joan Capdevilla wasn't tight enough to the rest of the back four, thus allowing Derdiyok the time and space to cause eventual havoc.

No Ideas In Midfield

"It was not Xavi's day, nor Sergio Busquets' either." That's the general consensus in Spain about their national team's midfield.

The lack of creativity on offer by the above duo meant it was Xabi Alonso's turn to delegate play in the middle of the pitch, but even he was too negative in his passing at times.

The "doble pivote" in front of the back four, i.e. the two holding midfielders (Xavi and Busquets), were rendered useless because the Swiss just let Spain have the ball, meaning their slightly more defensive positions cost La Furia the goals they needed.

The Aerial Play

It's clear that Vicente Del Bosque's team won the majority of corners in the match, and put in many crosses throughout the game.

However, even in the dying stages of the match, the team were only focusing on playing the ball out to substitute winger Jesus Navas instead of getting it straight into the penalty area.

This wasted time, due to some of Navas' deliveries, meant that world-class strike duo David Villa and Fernando Torres, "whose presence was almost testimonial-like," weren't provided with decent enough opportunities to find the back of the Swiss net.

Del Bosque

Vicente Del Bosque started the game with two holding midfielders, and two "fake" wingers supporting striker David Villa.

As a lot of the Spanish football writers are saying today, this didn't go to plan, and of course, Del Bosque had to make changes, bringing on a "real winger" in Jesus Navas and two attackers in Torres and Pedro Rodriguez.

As for the "doble pivote," opinion is divided in Spain as to whether it actually works in a team, especially one with the attacking flair of the La Selección Española.

These changes however, had little impact, and according to the Spanish media, the wide men simply weren't the answer to the problem that Del Bosque was looking for.