The Morocco players fell back on defense and patiently watched as Spain kept passing the ball around midfield during its round of 16 match at the FIFA World Cup. Side to side, from one Spanish player to another.
Pass after pass, Spain tried to find an opening through the Moroccan defense, but the Moroccans stood dedicated, unshakable, patiently waiting with 11 men behind the ball in front of their goal.
The traditional “tiki-taka” ball-possession style allowed Spain to keep the ball during most of the match on Tuesday, but not to get the goals it needed to keep its World Cup campaign alive, and it lost 3-0 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw in regulation and extra time to end its World Cup
y, but nIt was the third time Spain failed to make it past the last 16 at the World Cup after winning its lone title in 2010, when Xavi and Andrés Iniesta were the leaders of the ball-possession style that dazzled the football world.
Clearly, Spain's "tiki-taka" style has lost some of its effectiveness, both at the international and club levels with Barcelona, where it all began. Barcelona hasn’t won a Champions League since 2015, and was ousted in the group stage of the top European club championship that last two seasons after Lionel Messi left and signed with Paris Saint-Germain.
Some have questioned if Spanish football needs a philosophical revamp in light of recent defeats players to make it function again.
It’s been a while since Spain lost Xavi and Iniesta, key elements that made the “tiki-taka” thrive, and it hasn’t had a top-notch striker since Fernando Torres and David Villa, who were key to help transform ball possession into goals when La Roja won its back-to-back European Championships and the World Cup more than a decade ago. This year, only lvaro Morata, who is seldom regarded as a finisher like Torres and Villa, was a true striker for Spain.
It looked like Spain was going to make the “tiki-taka” work again in Qatar after teenagers Pedri and Gavi led the squad to a magnificent 7-0 opening win over Costa Rica, when La Roja completed a record 1,003 passes for a 90-minute period.