"We couldn't maintain that hunger, that ambition... we weren't mentally prepared or physically fit enough." Those were Xabi Alonso's words after La Roja crashed out of the World Cup and his statement has angered the Spain dressing room. His comments intitially came as a surprise, but surprise turned to anger as they sank in, because they were not in line with the squad's general consensus.

The Basque midfielder should have made it clear that his comments were his own and that he in no way spoke for the rest of the squad. More than anything because many of Spain's players are fully aware of their failure and that there could and should be an in-depth analysis of their performances at the tournament. However, they insist that their performances were in no way due to a lack of hunger, ambition or prior preparation for the tournament. In that sense, most of the squad believe that the midfielder is mistaken.

The first players to respond were Iniesta and Diego Costa whilst still at the Maracaná. The midfielder denied that the problem was a lack of ambition and wanted to focus solely on footballing matters, whilst the striker made his opinion very clear: "I don't agree with his comments. Everybody here was focused on winning. I'm here because I wanted to win, I wanted to reach the final and do a good job, but it wasn't to be. We obviously lacked something, but in terms of quality we're superior to many other teams."