Pique and Silva said goodbye to the Spain national team

Pique and Silva said goodbye to the Spain national team

Ahead of the victorious for Barcelona Spain Super Cup, where the Catalans defeated Sevilla with a score of 2:1, Gerard Pique announced his retirement from the national team of Spain. Later, the central defender was joined by David Silva from Manchester City.

Silva was invited to the national team by Luis Aragones back in 2006, with whom the halfback achieved a victory in the European Championships of 2008 and Gerard Pique got into La Furia Roja three years later, when Vicente del Bosque came to the post of the head coach.

The Catalan couple of central defenders Pique and Puyol were the mainstay of Spain’s defense in the triumphant World Cup of 2010 in South America. Thanks to the center-backs from Barcelona, Del Bosque’s national team with the help of only nine matches took gold in the tournament, having defeated the Netherlands in the final. At the same time, Silva played the false nine in the formation of the Spanish coach and made an invaluable contribution to the promotion of the national team and the distraction of the attention of opponents’ defense.

Ahead of the game against Sevilla in the Super Cup, which was held for the first time in a one-match confrontation, Pique opened the cards regarding the future in the national team, having claimed,

“I have had a very good time in the national team, having achieved victories in the championships of Europe and the World. But the story has come to an end. I told about my decision to Luis Enrique. For me it was logical to make the decision after the Mondial. It was an incredible time, but sometimes it is necessary to end cycles and do it right.”

The departure from the national team of Xavi first, then Iniesta and now Pique with Silva means that the new manager of la Furia Roja Luis Enrique will build a new team of young players.

The generation change in Spain has begun with fiasco in the 2014 World Cup, when the national team did not advance to play-offs, having lost the battle to the Netherlands and Chile. The main backbone, which consisted of Barcelona players kept using tiki-taka, when other teams learned to confront it. This was the first impulse for the restructuring of the national team, the need for which was confirmed by the World Cup in Russia.

With his work in Barcelona, Luis Enrique proved that he is capable of coping with difficulties at the post of a head coach and will offer new tactical decisions for further progress of the team. Therefore in the 2020 World Cup a new Furia Roja should be expected, capable of repeating the achievements of 2008 and 2012.