There haven’t been too many bad matches at this summer’s World Cup finals in Russia.

It’s been a thrilling tournament on the whole with many wonderful matches, including Saturday’s terrific Round of 16 clash between Argentina and France.

Argentina took a 2-1 lead in that match but it was France who advanced to the quarter-finals after scoring three goals without reply and sealing a deserved 4-2 victory in the process.

There have only been a couple of poor games at this tournament. The bore 0-0 draw between Denmark and France in Moscow last week was the dullest match so far prior to this weekend.

However, Sunday afternoon’s match between Spain and Russia - again in Moscow - certainly runs it close.

This tie was marginally more interesting because two goals were scored in the first half: a Sergei Ignashevich own goal and a penalty from Artem Dzyuba. And, of course, we had a penalty shoot-out, which livens up any match.

However, the majority of football fans were bored to tears during the 90 minutes, plus the first half of extra-time, as Spain passed, passed and passed some more.

What Guardiola said about 'tiki-taka' in 2014

The Spaniards had registered over 1,000 passes by the end of the first half of extra time while Russia camped back in their own half. This was ‘tiki-taka’ in its truest form.

The term ‘tiki-taka’ is synonymous with Spanish football, Barcelona and Pep Guardiola.

However, journalist Marti Peranau revealed in his brilliant 2014 book profiling Guardiola’s work that the revered Catalan coach hates the term ‘tiki-taka’ and what it stands for.

"I loathe all that passing for the sake of it, all that tiki-taka,” Guardiola was quoted as saying in the book, per the Telegraph. “It's so much rubbish and has no purpose. You have to pass the ball with a clear intention, with the aim of making it into the opposition's goal. It's not about passing for the sake of it."

What Guardiola told Bayern Munich players about 'tiki-taka'

In a meeting with his players, he elaborated: "Be yourselves. You need to dig into your own DNA. I hate tiki-taka. Tiki-taka means passing the ball for the sake of it, with no clear intention. And it's pointless.

"Don't believe what people say. Barça didn't do tiki-taka! It's completely made up! Don't believe a word of it!

"In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak.

"And when we've done all that, we attack and score from the other side. That's why you have to pass the ball, but only if you're doing it with a clear intention. It's only to overload the opponent, to draw them in and then to hit them with the sucker punch. That's what our game needs to be. Nothing to do with tiki-taka."

So, there you have it: even Guardiola hates tiki-taka. Passing for the sake of it can be extremely dull to watch, as we saw at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Guardiola encourages his teams to pass with purpose; keep the ball but always look for an opening between the lines.

If only Spain had been more like a Guardiola team, they would probably through to the World Cup quarter-finals instead of on the plane home.

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