Alan Pattullo: Ousted Spain go out with a whimper

Vicente del Bosque wonders where it all went wrong. Picture: Getty

Neither Spain nor opponents Australia trained at Arena da Baixada yesterday, ahead of their dead rubber encounter this afternoon, complaining that the turf had not yet recovered from Friday’s enjoyable encounter between Ecuador and Honduras.

The matter is a side issue, like the game itself – even if players such as Spain’s Pepe Reina and Juanfran were dutifully delivering the message at a press conference that, yes, the clash to decide who finishes bottom of Group B very definitely absolutely does have meaning.

When Spain manager Vicente del Bosque, facial features seeming more hangdog than ever, appeared, he confirmed only that Andres Iniesta would start on the occasion of his 100th appearance and Xavi will probably not play due to “a couple of injury problems”.

It means the heartbeat of this side, the conductor of the “Tiki-taka” orchestra, could have already collected his last cap.

It really does feel like the end of something here in Curitiba, where an Italian restaurant is hosting a special night on Wednesday to promote “Bodega Iniesta” wine, a sideline the midfielder is developing. He was even expected to appear.

Not now, however. La Roja are out, the party is over. Not that it has felt like much of a party for the Spanish players over the last few days.

There is an elegiac quality to the air in the Spanish training camp at the Caju training complex. Although home to Brazilian club Atletico Paranaense, it has been given an extensive Spanish makeover.

Motivational phrases such as El Grupo (the group) and Le Fuerza (the strength) adorn the walls of an immaculate-looking base that almost begs to be described as well-appointed.

While it might indeed be well-appointed, in the eyes of many in the corps of Spanish reporters, and, they say, also many of the players, it has not been well-chosen.

It feels sterile and antiseptic. Some of the players have taken to referring to it as “the hospital”.

They will not be sad to have to leave this place at least, before travelling to the stadium and then heading home.

This decision to base the squad in Curitiba is one of several being questioned by the Spanish media. Why come to a place where there is so little to do after training, and where the cool temperature is hardly preparation for more humid engagements elsewhere in the country?

Of the 32 competing teams, 30 of them have chosen bases near the beach or in a resort.

Spain are one of two who have not; instead electing to make a very deliberate decision to forgo the charms associated with a Brazilian World Cup – sun, sea and samba.

Pleasant place though Curitiba is, it has more in common with Scandinavia than these other “S” words. Norwegians, Swedes and other north Europeans, who make up a large percentage of the population, were attracted here by the temperate climate and cohesive social network.

The town has long been held up as a Brazilian model of urban planning. This might be so, but, for Spain, it now has the connotations that somewhere like Cordoba has for Scotland. Not that Spain have lost a football match here. Not yet, at least.

Their defeats have come in other places – in Salvador and in Rio de Janeiro.

It was in the Maracana, the stadium where they were expected to feature in next month’s final, that they were condemned to the humiliation of being the fifth set of holders to exit the tournament at the first stage.

It has been a joyless experience all round. There was a public training session on Saturday so half-hearted that one observer described the players as resembling “grannies on tranquilisers”. Later, a report emerged of Cesc Fabregas being asked to leave the session by Del Bosque.

The midfielder, who has only played a few minutes in this World Cup, was later spotted riding away on a bicycle, an image that risks transforming a serious issue of under-achievement into one of high farce.

The entire team will be getting on their bike later today, so to speak. The players are scheduled to leave for the airport as soon as they have showered and changed after the final whistle and are due to land in Madrid in time for a siesta tomorrow. It is not the return envisaged. It is not the return of history-makers.

Spain will slip just as quietly out of southern Brazil. As a headline in O Globo has it, “Curitiba diz adios”. Underneath a sub-heading explains that the departure of Spain has frustrated Parana, the state where Curitiba is the capital.

A mass departure of tourists is now feared. One Spanish journalist predicted that the Spanish support this afternoon will now number only a few hundred, rather than the thousands that would have been present were Spain still fighting to qualify, as everyone expected.

A low-key press conference on Saturday saw Raul Albiol dismiss the idea that Spain would not be trying this afternoon.

“It is a World Cup game, it is not a friendly in Vietnam,” he replied, which some interpreted as a pointed reference to the relentless schedule of promotional fixtures Spain have committed to, adding to the burn-out that some are proposing as one of the explanations for this poor showing.

“There are many reasons,” said Del Bosque yesterday, when he was asked why he felt Spain have failed so dramatically. But maybe he got as close to explaining why as anyone when he said, in response to a question about the row with Fabregas, he said: “A coach has to look after the team, everyone. Players tend to think about only themselves.”