Are Spain better off without Diego Costa in the lineup?
Pedro, Paco Alcacer, Alvaro Morata and Nolito – these are the forwards listed in the 23-man squad picked by Vicente Del Bosque. As the Spanish national football team takes on Luxembourg and Ukraine in the last two games of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers, the spotlight is firmly on the goalscorers.
Spain have been thoroughly professional in the qualifying rounds, winning seven of their eight matches so far. The one game they failed to win was against the Slovakians, away from home, as Juraj Kucka and Miroslav Stoch scored in the home side’s vital win against the defending champions.
Goals win games, and to score a goal, typically, a team would need an effective striker. Each of the selected forwards is individually impressive, but with the exception of Nolito, none of the others tabbed is enjoying a particularly good start to the season.
Del Bosque has omitted a very prominent name while picking his attackers for the last throw of the dice during the qualifiers. The obvious exclusion is of the antagonist, the villainous hitman, Diego Costa.
Why Costa was dropped from the Spain squad
Reiner Knizia once said, “When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning.” Although Knizia is a board game designer and not a football expert, his quote seems rather apt when it concerns Del Bosque’s perspective on Diego Costa.
Excluding one of the best strikers in Europe during the final lap of qualifying has raised eyebrows and some questions as well. When Del Bosque was asked to explain his decision to exclude Chelsea’s No. 19 from the squad, he responded by explaining that this decision was already taken after Costa was booked in Spain’s win over Macedonia, which rules him out of the Luxembourg game due to suspension.
He further added that the Chelsea star’s antics against Arsenal in the Premier League didn’t have a telling effect on his decision.
However, it seems that this wasn’t a purely tactical choice. While talking to the press in Madrid, Del Bosque said, “I did not like what happened in the Premier League, I don't think it was edifying. He can't play the first match and we preferred not to bring him.
“He is not playing badly, we'll select him in the future if everything goes normally,” he said, according to Sky Sports.
Del Bosque, in June 2014, had said that he hopes Spain ‘can win by playing a high level but if not, will have to win any way they can'. Evidently, ‘any way they can’ does not include the use of dark arts, which Costa specializes in.
Consequently, the coach is disciplining the striker by leaving him out of the squad. The chastising isn’t open, unceremonious and confrontational. It doesn’t need to be. The manager, after all, is cushioned with legitimate reasons to pick other players.
Nevertheless, the message is clear: behave.
Of the array of forwards available to Bosque, Costa is probably the only world-class option. For the last two seasons, he has been one of the finest strikers in the world. He played a pivotal role in Atletico Madrid’s and Chelsea’s domestic league wins. He also scored eight Champions League goals in nine appearances for Atletico Madrid in the 2013/14 season, facilitating Diego Simeone’s side journey to the final in Lisbon.
For the national side, though, Costa has proven to be a dud. With reference to this season, he has more yellow cards than goals credited to his name. The only goal he scored during qualifying came in the 4-0 thrashing of Luxembourg last year.
When speaking to AS after the match against Macedonia, Costa said, “I've got a lot to improve and I've got to start scoring goals. There will be no lack of effort on my part.” Unfortunately for Costa, Del Bosque can’t wait, as other strikers have overtaken the Chelsea forward in their potency for La Furia Roja.
Who should play as Spain’s striker instead of Costa?
Paco Alcacer has scored three goals during qualification, albeit those weren't very significant as they came against Luxembourg (4-0), Slovakia (1-2) and Macedonia (5-1). Morata netted a crucial goal against the Ukrainians in March this year and has found the back of the net more often than Costa at club level.
More importantly, Costa’s disciplinary record is worrying. He has received five yellow cards and been handed a retrospective three-match ban in a total of eight appearances for club and country this season, while Alcacer and Morata have accumulated three bookings in a combined 14 appearances for club and country.
The current circumstances indicate that Spain have better alternatives to the 26-year-old striker. Del Bosque is likely to play one of Alcacer or Morata as the number nine, lined ahead of a row of pocket-sized, crafty, skilled and terrifically gifted attacking midfielders.
The strikers will get support from the flanks if Pedro and Nolito are played as well. An overabundance of chances will be created and the most in-form centre-forward will be expected to convert them.
Apart from the strikers travelling with the national team this month, the manager should keep an eye on Aritz Aduriz, Athletic Bilbao’s prolific striker. He was the highest-scoring Spaniard in La Liga last season and yet, was cruelly overlooked by Del Bosque.
Aduriz could, and arguably should contend with Costa for a place in the national team. He is strong, highly competent in the air and possesses a fine finish as well. At 34 years of age, Aduriz is probably not a long-term option. Yet, he is more than capable of pushing Costa down the pecking order.
Costa comes with baggage; a lot of it, actually. His devilish approach is liked by a few coaches – Jose Mourinho, for instance, is immensely fond of the Brazilian-born Spaniard’s style and attitude, going as far as publicly stating that his striker was the ‘man of the match’ in Chelsea’s recent win against Arsenal.
But not every manager is like Mourinho. Some are more conventional in their manner and outlook. They would deliberately distance themselves from any disruptive elements.
Costa’s aggravating, seemingly unsporting approach to the sport is palatable as long as he does what a striker is fundamentally required to do – score goals. In the absence of goals and in the presence of stiff competition, he becomes an unnecessary problem occupying a critical spot in the squad.