Fleeting Success, Real Madrid, Barcelona & La Furia Roja

If there is one lesson we have come to learn in football (or for that matter in life more broadly) it is that all good things must eventually come to an end.

It is a harsh reality that lingers in the back of one’s mind even in the most celebratory of moments, and it is the sobering phenomenon that prevents us from mercilessly ridiculing a rival for his support of the opposition.

This awareness that the bad may well be fast on the heels of the good is most observable at the club level. Not three years ago, Fabio Capello’s Real Madrid had crawled their way back to the top of La Liga, finally breaking the atrocious drought of trophies during the latter years of the Galactico era.

At the time, Ronaldinho’s Barcelona, a side that had seemed invincible just one year before, when they claimed the Champions League trophy, looked mortal, allowing the Liga title to slip away in the final match of the season. The next year the cycle was complete; Schuster’s Madrid won La Liga handily and ended the once invincible Barcelona.

And true to this principle, how quickly things changed. Schuster’s Madrid disintegrated last year as just one summer of key signings (namely the combination of Dani Alves at right-back and Pep Guardiola as coach), as well as the strategic dismissals of Ronaldinho and Deco, saw Barcelona transform into perhaps the best side that the modern age of football has ever seen.

And now, after a €250 million summer in the Spanish capital, then this principle may once again be applied as Real Madrid hope to end the fiesta at La Ramblas, along with a number of other La Liga sides that could well challenge the Blaugrana this season, including Valencia and Sevilla.

Like foods, teams are perishable, and after a certain shelf life can spoil rather quickly. This humbling fact is more interestingly observable over a longer time series and thus, as we consider the Spanish national team’s run of recent success over the past year and a half, we cannot help but wonder when the peak will descend into the trough.

For 44 years, La Roja were the best national side who had failed to win a single title. Tournament after tournament of group level success was undermined by an unceremonious bow out in the elimination stages.

The Spanish national squad became more of a running joke in Spain — a symbol of the ironic suffering of the human condition.

But 44 years of failure went right out the window when Iker Casillas hoisted the 2008 European Championship trophy above his head. The Spanish national side repainted its image as a symbol of not only success, but also domination.

Exhibiting beautiful football and class technique, Spain continued on to go undefeated for a world record 35 matches in a row, finally upset by the United States in the Confederations Cup semi-finals.

But while it may be true that La Roja are one of the best national squads in the world, one has to wonder just how long the Spanish national team can keep a country so accustomed to disappointment on the international stage teeming with hope and ambition.

As has been empirically observed with all teams, success can only be sustained for so long.

Take for example, Italy’s dominating World Cup performance in 2006 juxtaposed with where the Italians can be found at the moment, languishing in their matches against teams that do not hold any international clout. The French are similarly grey in their outings against equally mediocre challengers.

Sometimes, teams will slip in form for no apparent reason — simply having become so accustomed to victory, they expect it without remembering to put in the work on the pitch to achieve it. Other times, it is an injury absence that can send a squad’s performances into a downward spiral.

What should happen if David Villa, scorer of two goals (as well as tallying two assists) in Spain’s 5-0 thrashing of Belgium in their most recent World Cup qualifier, should pick up a long-term injury? Fernando Torres has rarely stayed healthy for more than four consecutive months; if Spain were to lose both of their primary goalscorers, how would the Roja attack respond?

Most alarmingly would be an injury to Xavi, the engine of the Spanish team — the man that dictates play in the midfield and, for all pragmatic purposes, makes the side tick.

While Spain has a midfield stacked with talents such as Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Marcos Senna and the recovering Andres Iniesta, one has to wonder just how Spain’s creativity would suffer should the Euro 2008 Player of the Tournament be unable to take the pitch.

What remains to be seen is whether Vicente Del Bosque can sustain his side’s success into what could be the most important tournament in the history of the Spanish national squad. The farthest Spain have ever got in the World Cup has been a fourth place finish — all the way back in 1950.

After demonstrating such dominating success over some truly superb competition and showing off class rivalled only by Brazil on the international stage, anything short of a World Cup title would serve as a failure to give Spanish fans the redemption they so desperately desire after so many years of heartbreak and discouragement.

The 2010 World Cup gives Spain the opportunity to rewrite history — to begin a sea change in Spanish football that establishes the national team as one of the most dominant in the world.

So while all good things must eventually sour, by the same token, all bad things must come to an end too. Perhaps after over half a century of World Cup failures, Spain is finally set to paint the world with La Furia Roja.