Spain
The country’s brilliant Euro 2012 final demolition of Italy on Sunday has reopened the debate over which is the best international football team of all time. Was it one of the legendary Brazil sides? The clinical West Germans of the early 1970s? Or the fluid Dutch team of the same era? Of course the argument is a futile one if you’re talking merely trophies, as Spain’s three successive major tournament victories make them untouchable.
But could any of the historic teams claim to be greater than the Spain of Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta et al?
The only other teams to have won back-to-back major titles were the West Germans in 1972 and 74 and France in 1998 and 2000. The Germany of Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller were nowhere near as exciting as Spain or Brazil at their best, but they can at least claim to have killed the concept of ‘Total Football’ by beating the famous Netherlands team coached by Rinus Michels and featuring Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens in the final of the 1974 World Cup. They also only missed out on a third successive title at Euro 1976 on a final penalty shootout against Czechoslovakia. But even the most ardent Germany fan would struggle to argue to they were at Spain’s level.
And as for the French teams of 1998 and 2000, their 3-0 World Cup final win over Brazil was impressive, as was their defence and the inspirational Zinedine Zidane. But as a team they were far from the best ever, as proved by the fact former Newcastle United misfit Stephane Guivarc’h started that 1998 final.
Brazil are the only nation that has produced winning sides that would be capable of going toe-to-toe with the Spanish in terms of playing beautiful football. Their World Cup-winning teams of 1958 and 1962 — led by the brilliant Pele and Garrincha, the flying winger who was born with deformed legs — are held in extremely high regard and their 1982 vintage, though trophy-less, are something of a connoisseur’s favourite. The best Samba team from my lifetime is undoubtedly the flair-filled 2002 World Cup winners, with the original, buck-toothed Ronaldo banging in the chances created by Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and gung-ho full-backs Cafu and Roberto Carlos.
But the best Brazil team of all time took part in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. There, Brazil won all six of their matches, scoring 19 goals, with Pele, Gerson, Jairzinho, Rivelino and Tostao all outstanding. Their comprehensive 4-1 final win — like Spain this week, also coming against Italy — and in particular their perfect fourth goal, scored by captain Carlos Alberto after a masterful pass by Pele, was the highlight. This team was surely at least as good as the current Spain outfit, but they didn’t have the same long-term consistency as La Roja.
Spain’s ability to combine great style with genuine solidity — they haven’t even conceded a goal in a knockout match in any of their three tournament triumphs — is unique in football history. They deservedly went into the record books on Sunday and, with a relatively young team, they will have an excellent chance of making it four in a row and ending this debate once and for all in Brazil in two years’ time.
