The reason behind the World Cup upsets in Russia

SPAIN has joined Germany and Argentina as football heavyweights to be knocked out of the World Cup. One stat sums up their problem.

Spain's players react after losing the Russia 2018 World Cup round of 16 football match between Spain and Russia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

IF ANY result has hammered home the underlying theme from this World Cup it is the defeat of Spain.

Just eight years after Spain won its first World Cup with tiki-taka - the Spanish style of football of short passing and high possession - world football has been turned on its head.

Spain’s penalty shootout loss to Russia this morning - despite having 79 per cent of possession over 120 minutes - perfectly sums up the World Cup in Russia.

And there is one statistic with some of the world’s heavyweights - Spain, Germany and Argentina - that shows the dominance of counter attacking football in Russia.

It’s the World Cup where you don’t need possession to win. And in many cases, teams would rather not have the ball.

Spain passed the ball 1114 times but could not find a winner against Russia. Spain had 24 shots to Russia’s 7, but it matters little now.

Spain coach Fernando Hierro had said the day before that teams win tournaments by making fewest mistakes. But his team ended up taking no risks. Spain was cautious to the extreme, passing the ball more than 1029 times successfully, but rarely near the Russian goal.

Spain's defender Sergio Ramos reacts to Russia's victory after the penalty shootout.

It became a recurring theme in the game. Spain passing, and Russia sitting back and waiting.

“It’s painful, there’s nothing else we can say,” Spain captain Sergio Ramos said. “We left our soul in the pitch.”

World Cup winning France defender Bixente Lizarazu once described Spain’s football - which won them two European titles and a World Cup - as “love without the sex. It lacks a bit of spice”.

That was never more on display than the upset loss to Russia.

Lots of possession with no end product https://t.co/tnAJhidFRm

— Ned Zelic (@NedZelic) July 1, 2018

Russia has been a perfect example of the new world order in football.

A team that has shown that it is sometimes pointless to have the ball at this World Cup.

While it may come as no surprise Russia had little to no possession against a team like Spain, the host nation only had 39 per cent when it smashed Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening game of the tournament.

Possession football has always been the game’s purest form. The right way to win in many people’s eyes.

But in Russia that has been turned on its head. The tournament has shown that unless you have the players to execute a high possession game, you’re better off without the ball.

And if any stat summed that up it is this one.

Three teams averaged more than 65 per cent of possession in the group stage (Germany, Spain and Argentina). All three struggled. And all three are now gone.

The team with the fifth highest possession stats from the group stage was Saudi Arabia - a team pumped 5-0 by Russia and who exited after two losses.

“For each side, relentless possession, aimed at wearing their opponents down by tiring them out, became passive passing. Where they wanted incisive passing-and-moving they produced ponderous football,” the UK Telegraph wrote about the three footballing heavyweights.

“The truth is, there is no team in Russia anywhere near as complete as the winner of either of the last two tournaments. And so death by passing is no longer as effective a means of attack.”

But there are examples of this counter attacking style being more than just backs to the wall defence.

France executed it perfectly in its 4-3 win against Argentina on Saturday night, with 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe’s pace too much for Argentina to handle.