In life as in sport, flaws provide the flavour

KOCHI: On Sunday night Spain was immaculate. Even perfect, you could say. It is moot that it would have been different if, say, Germany was the opponent. More likely, it was as though Spain was reserving the best for the last. The long lobs born in the midfield segued into the effortless cross-hatched passing just outside the 18 yard area, and Spain had not just Italy but the world at its feet.
Borges would of course disapprove. Don Quixote, after all, was a parody on the price the quest for perfection exacts: Notably in the elimination of flaws, in the airbrushing of ambiguity. Yet flaw and ambiguity are what provide drama to life, the arc for literary narrative and, not least, the torque for a good game of football.
Borges' Pierre Menard was about Don Quixote, and how the world's first modern novel that originated in Europe had become in the eyes of Latin American literature the perfect novel too, of how a parody had itself become a parody.
Something similar is happening to the Latin American type of football epitomised by Spain. These teams were, and still are, seen as markedly superior because, in the final analysis, the players enjoy playing, winning is secondary. This might seem a folly in competitive games, especially at this level, though, paradoxically, it is this effortlessness that often helps Latin teams win.
Spain's ascent to greatness like it has been with Brazil, Argentina and the early Uruguay has come about because they have basically enjoyed their game. The likes of Germany were universally hated because they were martinets, their style of playing regimented.
Yet Spain is entering a zone where the borders are beginning to blur. It currently has niggles but no serious flaws. It has reached a certain perfection, and made winning such a habit that creative playfulness becomes a casualty. This is not obvious right now. But La Roja's triumph in Euro 2012 - a kind of triple grand slam -could as well be the beginning of its end in terms of footballing creativity.
It would be intriguing to see how it performs in Brazil in 2014 against opponents very similar to it. There could well be a sense of de ja vu. The football aficionado craves folly, a hint of odds, a glimpse of a hidden Achilles heel. Spain doesn't fit the bill. It might be left to Italy and other also-rans this season to provide that, and make football both a spectacle and a two-sided affair.