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On The Ball
Tiki-taka not passe but Spain need to find a style that works
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In this photo taken on June 3, 2021, Spain's players gather during a training session at the Ciudad del Futbol in Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain.
PHOTO: AFP
Richard Jolly
It was the day a philosophy ate itself. Tiki-taka may have changed football, but it also warped Spain.
Their last game in a major tournament turned into the most pointless display of passing in the history of football. For them, it was a day of 1,000 passes and one goal; or, to be precise, 1,006 completed passes and when all they had to show for it was an own goal by Russia's 38-year-old defender Sergei Ignashevich.
