Spain’s coach Vicente Del Bosque says he will take his time rather than let circumstances force him into drawing the lines on his future as coach of the Spanish national side, after a humiliating end to their Fifa World Cup reign.
‘La Roja’ became first cup holders to lose out after the first two matches of their title defence, following Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Chile, in the wake of their opening Group B trouncing by the Netherlands.
“This is not the time to reflect on my future,” said Del Bosque, who succeeded Luis Aragones in July 2008 and has led Spain to the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European championship victories.
Many blamed the 62-year-old former Real Madrid and Besiktas coach for not making the necessary changes after reading warning signals from last year’s Confederations Cup final loss to hosts Brazil.
However, the reigning champions have now conceded seven times- more than they had conceded in their previous 13 World Cup matches- while their solitary goal remains a Xabi Alonso spot kick in the loss to the Oranje.
Del Bosque would rather insist it is hightime the country learned to take defeats as much as they cherish victory.
“When something negative comes out of such an important competition then of course there are consequences. I don’t want to go into an analysis right now, there will be plenty of time for that,” he added.
The coach is expected to remain in charge of the side until 2016, judging by the new contract he signed with the Spanish federation last November. He says the team will look onto the future in one accord with the European nation who had endured four decades of under-achievement prior to his arrival.
“We have players and a federation who are very consolidated, we are not falling apart. We will take the time to do what is best for Spanish football, and I include myself there,” said Del Bosque.
“We must not make snap decisions on the basis of what has happened here. We played two games and were not able to overcome our rivals, Netherlands and Chile were better than us on the day.
“I thought we came here in good shape and the problem would be which were the best eleven players to field. But things did not turn out as we expected.”
Spain gave up the ball in vital areas, as well as being exposed at the back by a their world class goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, who appeared to have lost confidence a couple of times against a rampant Netherlands and Chile.
Del Bosque admits his side were “inferior” against Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands and Jorge Sampaoli’s Chile.
“We were inferior to both the Netherlands and Chile,” he concluded.
Knocked-out holders hope to end their short stay in Brazil on a high when they take on fellow group losers Australia on Monday, same time Netherlands look to confirm group dominance against prospects Chile.
