In April last year, a long week in Mallorca gave me the opportunity to take in some of the Mallorca Cup, a youth football tournament involving elite academy teams.
In two artificial fields in the northern corner of the island, teams of different age groups from dozens of Spanish clubs, including Barcelona, ​​​​​​Real Madrid and Sevilla, compete in knockout matches, supported by friends and family who have traveled with them.
The standards are high, astonishing in some cases, and provide a window into the level of talent produced in the country. However, what remains in the memory is the style in which he played. It’s hard to remember what happened to the goalkeeper for so long.
That experience comes to mind as I watch Spain’s senior team, made up of players who have played in the same tournament (not too long ago in the case of 17-year-old Lamine Yamal), dismantle England in Sunday’s European Championship final.
The score does not represent a single contest. And while wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams have given Spain an exciting new dimension, this display has old characteristics. With 65 percent ownership, they passed England.
It’s the Spanish way. Or at least it has since the national federation reviewed the country’s youth development program in the 1990s as part of a plan to nurture a highly-technical, possession-based playing style that has come to identify them.
The change was realized during a period of extraordinary success that spanned the following decades, as Spain, without a major international trophy since 1964, won twice the European Championship in 2008 and 2012 on either side of lifting the World Cup.
“We have moved on from a time when no one knew what the characteristics of Spanish football were,” said the federation’s former technical director Fernando Hierro at the time. Now, these characteristics are placed in each level of the game.
Of course, there are different interpretations in different clubs and in different regions. In the Basque Country, for example, home to Athletic Club Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Alaves, known to place more emphasis on duels and physicality.
But the core principle – centered on short passing and possession – is everywhere, encouraged, even at the amateur level, by the popularity of futsal, a variant of indoor soccer, played with a smaller and heavier ball, which sharpens control and techniques that are close.
Speaking to Aston Villa’s Spanish centre-back Pau Torres last season, he gave us an insight into the work he does at ground level. Asked about his composure and the quality of the ball, he shrugged: “That’s what I wanted as a young player in Villarreal’s academy.”
This uniformity, in the way Spanish clubs ask young players to play, is very beneficial for the national team and helps explain the cohesion shown by Luis De la Fuente’s team during their victorious Euro 2024 campaign.
Spain has almost as many clubs in the tournament, but the squad is eclectic, including 26 players from 17 different clubs. The starting line-up used by De la Fuente in the final had only previously played together, in a 3-3 friendly draw with Brazil in March.
Changes to personnel don’t disrupt the rhythm.
In the last group game, a 1-0 win against Albania, De la Fuente made 10 changes to the team without affecting the way they played, or the level of performance. Pedri and Rodri, who were injured in the quarter-final and final, were replaced smoothly.
Encouraged by Pep Guardiola’s success at Manchester City, this Spanish style of play has also found its way into English domestic matches. There is incredible work being done at academy level, which is reflected by the level of quality that is now available on the national side.
However, despite some tournament success winning trophies at youth level, England are still playing catch-up with Spain when it comes to developing their own new identity.
This does not mean that there is less effort.
Ten years ago, after opening the FA’s St George’s Park headquarters, Southgate, the U21 boss at the time, sat next to former director of elite development Dan Ashworth and head of player and coach development Matt Crocker to explain England’s ‘DNA’.
The five-point plan includes a section called ‘how we play’, which makes for interesting reading about England’s Euro 2024 campaign, and specifically the final.
“The English team is aiming to dominate possession intelligently,” he said. “The English team aims to regain possession smartly and as early as possible,” said another line.
Southgate has done a fantastic job in many areas, especially in terms of the culture and mentality around the team. But the problem with that style of play was highlighted by Spain – and indeed throughout the tournament.
England’s Southgate, despite featuring players who are used to playing attack-minded, possession-based football at the club level, remains reactive rather than proactive, more likely, certainly against the top team, will be dominated from dominance, as against Spain.
Indeed, when Spain ranks top among the 24 teams in the tournament for high turnovers per game and third for passes allowed per defensive action, England ranks 11 and 16 respectively, speaking to the level of passiveness out of possession which jars with DNA expressed.
Reaching the final of the European Championship for the second time in a row is certainly an achievement in itself, especially given the recent years that Southgate’s predecessors have had.
But Spain, decades ahead in terms of creating a stylistic identity, and with an endless supply of players who have spent their entire life and breath in football, show that England still have a lot to do.