Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta have Spain’s World Cup hopes at their feet
The World Cup begins Friday and before it is over, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta could well have decided the course of the tournament.
No team — not Argentina, not Brazil, not England, not anyone — has the sort of creative genius that midfielders Xavi, 30, and Iniesta, 26, bring to Spain’s lineup.
Yes, Argentina has dazzling forward Lionel Messi, but even the reigning world player of the year would admit that without Xavi and Iniesta providing the passes, he would be half the player he is at Barcelona.
They are two-of-a-kind teammates, diminutive playmakers who, with a single incisive pass or the flick of a boot, can split asunder the best of defenses. They are the reason that La Furia Roja is favored, along with Brazil, to win the 32-team tournament.
Barcelona’s Yaya Toure, who will be playing for Ivory Coast at the World Cup, thinks the two players, neither of them a centimeter over 5 feet 7, cannot be matched.
“They are the two greatest in the world for me,” Toure told the BBC a year ago. “I cannot speak highly enough of just how good they are. … Don’t ask me to choose between them, because I couldn’t.”
A little history is in order, a little perspective to see just how far the two have come.
Xavi, as he is commonly known, was 11 when he joined Barcelona in 1991 and 20 when he made his debut for Spain in 2000.
Iniesta was 12 when he joined Barcelona in 1996 and 22 when he made his debut for Spain in 2006.
They have been teammates, in other words, for 14 years at Barcelona, rising through the youth ranks, and for four years on the Spanish national team. Small wonder that Spain won the European Championship in 2008 and that Barcelona won the European Champions League, along with five other trophies, in 2009.
Now, the two — Xavi from Terrassa in Catalonia and Iniesta from Fuentealbilla in Castile-La Mancha — have their eyes set on soccer’s ultimate prize,
“It won’t be easy, but we have got to go with excitement, knowing we can compete with anyone,” Xavi said the other day. “Let’s see if it’s true that Spain’s time has come at the World Cup.”
The key to Barcelona’s and Spain’s recent success has been ball possession, something accomplished through one-touch play, constant off-the-ball movement and extraordinary passing.
Xavi and Iniesta have turned it into a fine art, and the world has acknowledged the fact.
Alex Ferguson, whose Manchester United team was taken apart by Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final in Rome, said it was as if the ball was tied to their feet.
“I don’t think Iniesta and Xavi have ever given the ball away in their lives,” he said. “They get you on that carousel and they can leave you dizzy.”
Former Dutch international Giovanni van Bronckhorst was a teammate of the two at Barcelona and told the BBC: “They have a special relationship … they just seem to know where the other is.”
Xavi is the elder statesman, the man who keeps things calm and leads by example. Frequently referred to as “the metronome,” he controls the tempo of the game, speeding it up or slowing it down as needed.
“Thinking quickly, that is the key,” Xavi told the Times of London a couple of years ago.
A deep-lying central playmaker, he was the player of the tournament when he led Spain to its Euro 2008 title and the best player on the field when Barcelona won the 2009 Champions League.
“He has something that other players do not have — it is the way he sees the game,” Barcelona Coach Pep Guardiola said.
Iniesta, on the other hand, plays a bit wider and bit closer to the forwards. England’s Wayne Rooney has called him “the best player in the world,” and if Xavi is the metronome, Iniesta is the illusionist, ghosting through tackles and making the ball disappear a split second before a rival lunges for it.
“The way he finds passes — his movement and ability to create space is incredible,” Ferguson said.
“He is the complete footballer,” Spain Coach Vicente del Bosque said. “He can attack and defend, create and score.”
The two players are well aware of each other’s ability.
“He is the best teammate I can have and the best footballer Spain has by a long distance because he can do things other players can’t do,” Xavi has said of Iniesta.
“Something is missing from the team when Xavi is not playing,” Iniesta has said of Xavi.
Spain, with eight Barcelona players and five Real Madrid players in its ranks, has many other stars, most notable among them goalkeeper Iker Casillas and forwards Fernando Torres and David Villa. But it will be Xavi and Iniesta who decide Spain’s World Cup fate.
Del Bosque cautions, however, that the tournament has not been won yet.
“I’m very optimistic about our chances but also prudent,” he said. “We have exceptional players and a tried and tested pattern of play. We are on a high; the momentum is with us. However, the tag of favorite is a dangerous one. It’s not enough to believe this is Spain’s golden era and that everything will automatically go our way.”
