SPAIN Attacking Sessions PDF

 140 Practices from Goal Analysis of the Spanish National Team

The Spanish national team from 2008 to 2012 played in 37 official matches (not including friendly matches) including Euro 2008 in Austria Switzerland, the qualifiers and the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, the qualifiers and the finals of uro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. During this period Spain had 2 coaches; Luis Aragones and Vicente Del Bosque.

Luis Aragones won the European Championships in 2008 before Vicente Del Bosque took over on the 15th of July. Spain have since won the World Cup in South Africa (2010) and the European Championships in Poland/Ukraine (2012). During these 37 matches Spain scored a total of 86 goals (average 2.32 goal per game) and conceded only 16 goals (average 0.43 goal per game).

They scored in 34 out of the 37 matches and only failed to score in 3 matches. The first was against Italy (0-0) when Spain won 4-2 on penalties in the quarter final of Euro 2008.

The second was against Switzerland (0-1) in the World Cup and the third was against Portugal (0-0) when Spain won 4-2 on penalties in the semi final of Euro 2012. Spain kept a clean sheet in 23 of these 37 matches and only twice conceded 2 goals in one match. The first was away against Bosnia Herzegovina in a World Cup qualifier (won 2-5) and the second was away against Scotland in a qualifying match for Euro 2012 (won 2-3). The numbers do not always tell the whole truth, but in this case I think they speak for themselves and show us that during this period, the Spanish national team were not only very strong in the attacking phase but also very strong across all 4 phases of the game. What is very important is how Spain created these goals and how they found solutions in different game situations and against different defensive organisation. 49 of Spain’s 86 goals were scored against opponents who used an organised defence.

37 goals were scored against opponents who defended in the low zone, 10 goals against opponents who defended in the middle zone and only 2 goals were scored against opponents who defended in the high zone.

22 of Spain’s 86 goals were scored in the transition from defence to attack. 8 goals were made in the transition to attack from the low zone, 8 from the middle zone and 6 from the high zone. And finally, 15 of Spain’s 86 goals were scored from set plays; 3 from corner kicks, 6 from free kicks and 6 from penalties.

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