Capello: 'World Cup 2022 is the end of tiki-taka'

"At the 2022 World Cup, we will celebrate the end of tiki-taka," Capello told Il Messaggero on December 8. "Spain also said goodbye to the imaginary nine, a formula that can work in certain circumstances and contexts. However, it cannot become a basic system."

Tiki-taka is a game based on the ability to control the ball with a small bounce and technique, which has helped Barca under coach Pep Guardiola to dominate Europe and bring dozens of titles between 2009-2019, with the peak. was the 2009 treble.

The Spain team, with the core of Barca players such as Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Carles Puyol, David Villa, also succeeded with tiki-taka. Thanks to that, they made a golden period when they won two Euro 2008, 2012 and World Cup 2010.

According to Capello, "tiki-taka is only effective when accompanied by speed and is no longer suitable for modern football". The former Italian coach also thinks that Pep Guardiola's Barca is successful with tiki-taka thanks to the possession of stars like Lionel Messi or Iniesta at their peak.

Coach Luis Enrique advocates building a ball-control style for Spain at the 2022 World Cup, when using a trio of midfielders Pedri, Gavi, Busquets and pushing Rodri to the center-back. He also regularly arranged Marco Asensio and Ferran Torres to alternately play as a striker, while Alvaro Morata played the role of "super-sub".

But this approach does not work. In the 1/8 round against Morocco, Spain held the ball 77%, passed 1,050 passes, but only two shots hit the goal and could not score, then lost 0-3 in the penalty shootout. Before that, in the group stage match against Japan, the army under Enrique even held the ball up to 83%, but lost in the first three minutes of the second half.

This disappointing result led the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to sack Enrique, and appoint Luis de la Fuente. In 2013, he led the Spain U19 team and then served in the Spain U21 and U23 team. Notable achievements of coach Fuente are the 2019 European U21 championship and the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo 2021.

Capello is one of the most successful coaches in European football history. He has won four Serie A, a Champions League with AC Milan, a Serie A with AS Roma and two La Liga with Real. He retired in 2018, at the age of 72, after leading Jiangsu, China.