World Cup 2010 : Spain

Apocalypse now as bedlam reigns in Spain

Tim Stannard — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:40:00 GMT

“Oh! There’ll be an apocalypse!” was the cheerful prediction from the perkily pretty and madly-grinning Sandra, a waitress working in Madrid’s Plaza Dos de Mayo when asked what would happen if Iker Casillas were to lift the World Cup the following day.

Sandra wasn’t too far off.

At 6am on Monday morning, the streets of Madrid mirrored the cities, towns and villages of the rest of the World Cup-winning country - streets covered with detritus and drunks. Spread-eagled, staggering, stupefied and senseless supporters wrapped in flags unable to remember if they had jobs to go to in two hours time but not really caring if they did.

At 6 am on Monday morning, Spain smelt of sweat, beer and p*ss - the true smell of Champions.

Although the ho-down against Holland did not start until eight thirty in the evening, supporters began sitting patiently in front of the five giant screens set up along Madrid’s Paseo de Recoletes and up to the Cibeles fountain from midday.

By the time the match kicked off, there were 200,000 of them - a marvellously good-natured mass who had survived hours of truly terrible pop acts and 40 degree heat by singing the only chant any follower of la Roja needs to know - “Yo Soy Español! Español! Español!”

A few hours later, a new song had been added - “Campeones!”

After a truly tortuous, terrifying game that sent the near quarter of a million crowd into silence with the growing, nagging fear that the match would end in penalties and a Netherlands victory, San Iker lifted the beautiful, sparkling gold trophy into the air.

Spain had won the World Cup, something that LLL and perhaps millions of others around the country are still trying process.

When the final whistle was blown by the hapless Howard Webb, bedlam broke out in the Recoletes Fan Park. It was apocalypse, right frackin’ now.

Security fences crashed, fireworks banged, fans screamed, cried and piled onto each other. A black coffin with the words “Holland R.I.P.” that one imaginative group had brought along for the game was burned whilst people danced around the fire Lord of the Flies style.

For hours after the game, fans stood in the streets beeping everything they could or danced like loons in the few remaining fountains that had not been fenced off by city officials fearing mass destruction of some fairly historic property.

By 8 am, hungover but happy supporters were gathering around newspapers kiosks to pick up their bursting, bulging copies of Marca and AS.

It was almost as if they were looking for confirmation of what had happened the night before - a night dominated by Andrés Iniesta’s goal and Iker’s kiss, an image that will surely become the defining one of the World Cup win in Spain.

However, the World Cup party was only just starting to get going. The supporters had chatted in the kitchen and danced in the living room. Now it was time for 45 million people to move to the bedroom.

To the south of the city in the shadow of the Royal Palace and along the banks of the regenerated River Manzanares, fans started pouring into the scene of what eventually became the Pepe Reina show as La Selección took to the stage in front of hundreds of thousands of supporters, some of whom had been waiting up to 11 hours in the stunning heat and were being hosed down by firemen who looked like they had never had so much fun in their lives.

Before the players charged onto the stage, they had undertaken an insane open top bus tour of Madrid that brought an estimated 2.5 million people onto the streets to welcome their heroes home.

With fans hanging out of windows and helicopters whirring overhead, the bus spent three hours eking its way through the centre of the city before reaching its final destination, where the magnificently manic Liverpool goalkeeper proceeded to both insult and praise his team-mates one-by-one.

“The future of Barça, the future of Spain - Cesc Fabregas!” was the greeting for the Arsenal man as Reina and Carles Puyol wrestled a Barcelona shirt onto the horrified midfielder.

“The nervous-wreck of la Selección, Jesús Navas!”

"The truck of the team, Fernando Llorente!”

At midnight, it was all over with reality beginning to bite. The hundreds of thousands set about the near impossible task of getting home and tried to digest what had been one of the most exhausting, intense but exhilarating 24 hours anyone in the country can ever have experienced.

Spain are World Cup winners 2010. And that sounds very good, indeed.

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Celebrate good times...perhaps

Paul Simpson — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:57:00 GMT

West Germany’s players ought to have been on top of the world on 7 July 1974. Earlier that day they had left the brilliant Oranje traumatised and won the World Cup.

But their euphoria faded faster than you could say “Gerd Muller” when they heard the German FA had banned their wives from the celebratory banquet at Munich’s Hilton Hotel.

Susi Hoeness was the first wife to be asked to leave by a waiter. Her husband Uli tried to remonstrate with the German FA’s Hans Deckert only to be told: “It’s not for you to demand things you are not entitled to”. Hoeness told Deckert “Save your f****ing breath” and stormed out to a nearby disco, followed by Beckenbauer and most of his teammates.

Germany’s legendary keeper Sepp Maier fumed: “Germans can hold a World Cup perfectly and crush opponents with unflagging discipline but we don’t have the slightest idea about holding a party.”

This bizarre story, recounted in Uli Hesse’s superb Tor!, confirms that sometimes the seeds of failure are sown at the very peak of your success.

Gerd Muller immediately quit the national team in disgust, Wolfgang Overath and Jurgen Grabowski followed the next morning and Paul Breitner withdrew a few months later. After that disastrous party in Munich, West Germany would lose the 1976 European Championship on penalties and not win another World Cup until 1990.

Coach Helmut Schoen only stayed on because DFB president Hermann Neuberger begged him. Schoen regretted his change of heart when West Germany came third in the second group phase in Argentina in 1978, losing 3-2 to Austria. For the German press, this defeat was a national disgrace. So West Germany’s World Cup-winning coach quit with the prescient barb: “My biggest fear is that the road to football as total business will lead to the Harlem Globetrotters.”

The wives couldn’t dine with the winners in 1966 either. But at least they were given a meal in a room in Kensington’s Royal Garden Hotel near the official banquet. (You assume the WAGS’ mood soured when they realised that Pickles, the dog who had found the World Cup, had been allowed into the very banquet they’d been excluded from.)

After the dinner, some players headed to the club run by England’s greatest living drag act, Danny La Rue, but Jack Charlton led a breakaway movement to the Astor Club where, after much free champagne and beer, he and his cohorts were invited to a party in Leytonstone and there they awoke, bleary eyed, on various sofas a few hours later. Slinking back to the team hotel later that morning, Charlton was berated by his mother Cissie: “Where are you? I’ve been up to your room and your bed’s not been slept in.”

Mr & Mrs Moore: "Come on love, let's get wellied"

Obdulio Varela would have approved of Charlton’s spree. The legendary Uruguayan skipper was inspirational at centre-back when La Celeste beat Brazil in the Maracana to win the 1950 World Cup in Rio. But he wasn’t interested in having his photo taken and, as Eduardo Galeano recalls in his book Football In Sunshine And In Shadow, “He spent that night drinking beer in one Rio bar after another, his arm around defeated fans. The Brazilians cried. No one recognised him.”

Varela was just as anonymous when the world champions returned to Montevideo. He slipped away from the crush at the airport, hiding behind a Humphrey Bogart raincoat and a fedora. With the prize money from the Uruguayan FA, he could afford to buy a 1931 Ford. Galeano notes: “It was stolen a week later.”

There is no feeling in football like winning the World Cup. At Wembley in 1966, Bobby Charlton gave his brother a rare hug and asked: “What is there left to win now?” The ever practical Jack responded: “We’ll have to win it again.” Astonishingly, only 21 players have ever done that: 16 Brazilians, four Italians and one Argentinian. Only Pele has won it three times.

Spain should savour their glorious moment. Life – and football – will help them fall back to earth soon enough.

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Our memories of World Cup 2010

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:42:00 GMT

Now the curtain has come down on the 2010 World Cup, we thought it would be nice to share our abiding memories of the tournament with you...

Gary Parkinson - Editor, FourFourTwo.com

Best game I'd love to say Slovakia v Italy, but I didn't see it: I was covering Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand. Of the 50-odd games I did see, perhaps the best story was the oddly enjoyable Germany-England match. History in the making, it was statistically quite an even game, packed with drama – That 'Goal', England's plucky semi-fightback, Germany's skilful assassination – and tactical intrigue. I took no pleasure from England's defeat, but I took plenty from Germany's performance.

Best goal The magnificence of its pointlessness only improves Quagliarella's chip as Italy crashed out. Sublime in thought and execution, especially as his team-mates had just let loose the chains on All Hell.   

Best moment Iker Casillas's tears as Iniesta & Co. celebrated the World Cup-winning goal. Having led from the back by almost single-handedly keeping four clean sheets in the knockout stages, the captain richly deserves the honours bestowed upon him.

Funniest moment Tempting to go for Rob Green's fumble – oh come on, it was hilarious - or Yakubu's miss. Or John Terry hurling himself in front of Slovenia's late shots like an Essex-sent missile. Or Heskey lumbering on to conquer the Germans. But that would be to ignore the comedic tour de force that was the French squad's refusal to train and Domenech's impromptu recital of a handwritten ransom note from his own players. Highlight: that coach's Fawltyesque throwing away of his FIFA accreditation as he stormed from the deserted field.

Biggest surprise Capello's v-sign to the media in playing a 4-4-2 (actually more like a 4-2-3-1 but let's not carp) against Slovenia. "Our sources have told us it'll be a diamond," said the crisp salesman. "I've told you, as your manager: You're playing on the left wing, son," said Capello to his captain.

Biggest disappointment Spain. Such abundance of talent and domination of possession should yield far more than four successive 1-0 wins in the knockouts. It worked for them, but it didn't do anything for me. This was a laboured World Cup win on a par with France in 1998, and although that side had Stephane Guivarc'h instead of David Villa, the new Barcelona man's five goals all came in matches where he'd started playing off the plainly unfit Torres - illustrating the great paradox at the heart of the clamour for 4-2-3-1: you need a superb, on-form line-leader, or you're going to struggle. Few in Spain might agree today, but a few in England need to bear it in mind while naming their No.9.

Player of the tournament It's much harder to argue with FIFA's choice of Diego Forlan than it is to argue with wazzocks who haven't seen him since his spell at Old Trafford. Some of those wazzocks hold down highly-paid jobs as alleged experts. They need to lose those jobs.  

Young player of the tournament Again, FIFA made the right call in ennobling Thomas Müller. Fast, accurate, savvy and adaptable, he epitomises the future of forward play.  

Lesson I’ve learned It's possible to get by without much sleep, as long as you have the support of a good family, both at home and at work.

Hugh Sleight - Editor in Chief, FourFourTwo

Best game Germany 4 England 1. Goals, drama, controversy, brilliance - it was a game with everything. Worth 12 hours in a coach to and from Joburg to see it. We'll still be talking about it in 40 years time when Sepp Blatter Jr again refuses to introduce goal-line technology.

Best goal Technically, Luis Suarez's curler was the best, but my favourite has to be the Shearer-at-Blackburn-esque effort from Asamoah Gyan against the US. Defenders bouncing off him like it was a cartoon, followed by an old-fashioned larrup.

Best moment Tshabala's opening game scorcher to assuage doubts that the hosts would get roundly stuffed in every game. And Michael Carrick's very respectable mum suddenly blasting out "I'm England til I die" against Germany.

Funniest moment France's disintegration. They made England's players look like wise old owls. At what point do you decide to sacrifice potentially your only shot at the World Cup because you don't really like that bloke over there because he's slightly younger/posher/less like Patrice Evra than you?

Biggest surprise Germany's football. Even accounting for never writing off the Germans, no one expected such irresistible football. Who knew that Holland were the new Germany and Germany the new Holland?

Biggest disappointment Rooney, Torres, Ronaldo and the other stuttering stars.

Player of the tournament Xavi. Throughout the tournament, all the talk was that Spain hadn't really played well. Jesus. If only England could not play well as well as that! At the heart of this truly great team are the smart feet and sharp brain of Xavi.

Young player of the tournament Vladimir Weiss looks about 12 but excelled for Slovakia, Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil were both exceptional but I'm going for Gyan again (even though he's 24...). He led the line brilliantly. His great misfortune was that England didn't top their group and give him the chance to double his goal tally against ’JT and Upsy‘.

Lesson I've learned That an awful lot of players win 100 caps these days.

David Hall - Editor, FourFourTwo magazine

Best game Japan vs Paraguay. Just kidding. Ghana vs Uruguay had it all. It was football with heart and soul… and a bit of cheating. It had the lot.

Best goal The first one of the tournament scored by South Africa’s Siphiwe Tshabalala. Had the whole office out of their seats and buzzing about the start of the World Cup.

Best moment Wesley Sneijder running to a TV camera to celebrate his goal against Brazil. A big star with a bit or personality. That’s what we like.

Funniest moment Seeing France’s bizarre World Cup build up (kart racing, road cycling and mountain climbing anyone?) degenerate into a farcical sulk-off between players and management.

Biggest surprise Diego Maradona. Aside from the expected fractious comments aimed at everyone from the Argentine press to Bastian Schweinsteiger, he conducted himself with a level of decorum that I certainly didn’t expect. It was a shame. I thought he’d chin at least one FIFA official.

Biggest disappointment England. I had the dubious pleasure of attending England vs Algeria, the highlight of which was buying a vuvuzela. Yes, it was that bad.

Player of the tournament Wesley Sneijder. Coming off the back of a treble-winning season with Inter, tiredness didn’t appear to be an issue for the Dutchman who pretty much ran the show for Holland. Winter breaks or not, he had a long few months at the office and consistently delivered.

Young player of the tournament Mesut Ozil. We had identified him as one to watch long before the World Cup started and our prediction rang true. Silky skills, great vision and surprising turns of pace made him one of the most complete midfielders at the tournament.

Lesson I’ve learned To never again get excited about England’s chances going into a major tournament. My anticipation and disappointment were significantly heightened by becoming FourFourTwo’s editor in January of a World Cup year. It was a rollercoaster… mainly travelling downwards.

Gregg Davies - News Editor, FourFourTwo.com

Best game Slovakia 3-2 Italy. Fascinating final 15 minutes, in which the holders looked dead, buried and set to bow out with barely a whimper, only to rally out of nowhere and finish a single goal short of qualifying. Super-sub Kamil Kopunek scoring with his first ever touch at a World Cup finals and Fabio Quagliarella’s delightful late chip added to the late drama.

Best goal Okay, so it may not have been everybody's pick for goal of the tournament, but I really enjoyed Nicklas Bendtner’s leveller for Denmark against Cameroon. A simple but brilliant move from the back, featuring two inch-perfect deliveries from Simon Kjaer (diagonal 50-yard effort) and Dennis Rommedahl (pin-point square pass across the penalty area).

Best moment The last-gasp goalline madness between Ghana and Uruguay ending with Luis Suarez’s handball and Asamoah Gyan squandering the chance to rewrite African football history books from 12 yards.

Funniest moment It's difficult for it not to be the French, with a pair of shambolic performances against Mexico and South Africa sandwiching their laughable conduct off the pitch. Some solace for the Republic of Ireland, but not much.

Biggest surprise Brazil hitting the self-destruct button the one time they faced adversity in the tournament. Having cruised through to the quarters, Felipe Melo - sorry, Wesley Sneijder’s equaliser was all it took for the Samba Boys to lose both the plot and their heads.

Biggest disappointment Wayne Rooney, above the plethora of big names who didn’t dazzle. With a season behind him that had filled England fans with so much anticipation, the forward looked like a lost soul in South Africa, one shot against Slovenia that struck an upright aside.

Player of the tournament Without David Villa’s goals Spain wouldn’t have come close to going all the way. But my vote goes to Diego Forlan – carrying his team and his country through to the last four, and one of the few players to truly master the wretched Jabulani ball.

Young player of the tournament Thomas Müller. Two caps and no goals before tournament began. Now five goals in eight appearances, netting his fifth goal of the competition against Uruguay with only his sixth shot on target of the tournament. Badly missed against Spain in the semi-final.

Lesson I’ve learned Bet against Paul the octopus at your peril.

James Maw - Features Editor, FourFourTwo.com

Best game Holland’s quarter-final victory over Brazil had everything - some great football, some atrocious defending and three - count ‘em - THREE moment of madness from Felipe Melo which resulted in Ronaldo advising him via Twitter not to return to Brazil.

Best goal Having lost their opening match to Switzerland, Spain were labouring a tad in the opening stages of their second match against Honduras. That was until David Villa embarked on a powerful run down the Spanish left – cutting inside and beating three men using a combination of power and guile before working the ball onto his right foot and driving it into the top corner.

Best moment Slovakia’s victory over Italy will live long in the memory, and the highlight was undoubtledly Kamil Kopúnek’s 89th minute goal. It was his first ever touch of a football in a World Cup finals and earned his country their first ever finals win. Oh, and it knocked the reigning champions out…

Funniest moment Argentina’s Gabriel Heinze giving a television camera an almighty whack after inadvertently smashing his face into it moments before.

Biggest surprise Fabio Capello’s use of substitutes during the Germany match. The baffled look on the faces of everybody in the packed southwest London watering hole in which I watched the match when England’s biggest goal-threat Jermain Defoe was replaced by Emile Heskey was hilarious, yet telling.

Biggest disappointment The reaction to Luis Suarez’s last minute handball against Ghana (above). I felt the way so many fans and pundits were willing to just accept this blatant act of cheating as ‘part of the game’ and the popular insistence that ‘anybody would do it’ is a damning indictment on the modern game. If the punishment isn’t enough to dissuade the offence then the punishment isn’t severe enough. Bring back hanging, or failing that, just award a goal for blatant and deliberate handball on the goalline.

Player of the tournament Maybe I’m just being contrary, but I felt Bastian Schweinsteiger displayed a consistent level of subtle brilliance as Germany marched to third place. The way he was so willing to sacrifice himself for the team by playing in a more disciplined and withdrawn role than he plays at club level is worthy of high praise (Steven Gerrard take note).

Young player of the tournament I’m not sure you can look beyond Thomas Mueller. For a player of his age and relative inexperience to so quickly become an integral part of such an impressive football machine is not something you see often. His willingness to support both the fullback and centre forward set him apart from most attackers in the tournament.

Lesson I’ve learned That honking a vuvuzela at full blast in a small kitchen in an abandoned office building at gone 10 on a Friday evening will make a noise not dissimilar to those heard in Jurassic Park.

Chris Hunt - Journalist, FourFourTwo.com’s man in South Africa

Best game Germany 4-0 Argentina. Just to see the look on Maradona’s face at the press conference afterwards. He just didn’t see it coming and he still has no idea why it happened.

Best goal For the emotion and for the occasion, it would have to be the first goal of the World Cup. Hammered into the net by Siphiwe Tshabalala, it gave South Africa an unexpected lead over Mexico in the opening game. The crowd went crazy and anyone who was in the stadium at the time won’t forget the experience.

Best moment Frank Lampard’s goal against Germany – well, it was my best moment when he scored it and my worst when the referee continued to play the game without reaching for his whistle.

Funniest moment When Joan Capdevila went down like an extremely heavy saco de patatas, it was Portuguese defender Costa who took the rap, but the TV replays showed a foot of clear air between to the two players, leading fans around the world to believe that it may have been the work of the ‘elbow of god’.

Biggest surprise The form of the Germans from their opening game even surprised the majority of their fans in South Africa, who had been conned into thinking they were crap by Joachim Löw. It’s just a shame this brilliant young team didn’t show up when it really mattered against Spain. It promised to be the game of the tournament but ended up an intriguing game of cat and mouse.

Biggest disappointment The performance of the French, who even managed to give those past masters of infighting, the Dutch, a lesson in how to destroy your team’s chances from the inside.

Player of the tournament A hard call as several players have unexpectedly shone at this World Cup, but I would say Arjen Robben. He may have missed the opening games, but along with Wesley Sneijder he has been a constant danger and the inspiration behind Holland’s charge to the World Cup final.

Young player of the tournament Pivotal in Germany’s run through the tournament, my vote would go to Mesut Ozil.

Lesson I’ve learned That the Dutch have reached the final of the World Cup wearing Nike shirts made from recycled plastic bottles. Apparently it takes eight bottles to make each shirt. Imagine what Johan Cruyff could have done with a shirt made from plastic bottles – although he probably would have demanded one with a different sponsor’s logo on it!

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Spain’s happy hangover

Tim Stannard — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:18:00 GMT

*Buuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzz* What? Eh? Gaaah! Ow! Morning? What happened?.....Ouch....(Bump! Screech! Bang!) - Eh!” - Repeat for the next 12 hours.

This is pretty much how most of Spain is going to spend Thursday. If it is, indeed Thursday.

And that includes LLL, but mainly due to the fact the blog was only able to get up to eight minutes sleep at a time before some kind interfering horn action or wailing and screaming from the street interrupted LLL's somnambulant ways.

But it is going to be a day from one of the less unpleasant hell dimensions worth suffering.

Spain frackin’ did it! Bless every one of their 23 pairs of red cotton socks. And Vicente Del Bosque’s too. In fact, bless his magnificent moustache, whilst the blog is at it. May it be tickled by Paz Vega and Penelope Cruz for the rest of his days.

La Roja are in the World Cup final for the first time in their history, and Merciful Zeus they have a spiffing chance of winning it.

However, that’s all to be debated on Saturday and Sunday. For the immediate moment the feeling across the country is tingly relief, nervous exhaustion and a little bit of daylight-provoked pain.

Wednesday’s semi-final clash was the most complete performance by Vicente Del Bosque’s men so far in the tournament, with Germany mere spectators for much of the encounter.

But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t a torturous, nervy experience for the 93 minutes of the game with Spain missing their normal quota of chances and cries of “******** shoot you ********* ********s!” echoing from bars all over the country accompanying La Roja’s display.

Luckily, everyone lived happily ever after, and danced in the streets until sunrise after Captain Caveman himself, Carles Puyol, smashed a wonderful header home to inspire AS’s own homage to Cataluyna with their front page banner of “Visca España!”

“It was a goal that confirms that this team dominates in every department” writes the paper’s editor, Alfredo Relaño, who praises a victory that was achieved "with great football, with gusto and with solidarity.”

In the inside pages Tomás Roncero hints that Mrs Roncero may have to make room for someone else in their Spain-loving lives with the wonderfully crackpot columnist writing “I love Casillas” in English. “But I’m called Tomás, not Sara, however I’m obliged to send him this love letter.”

Every other male in Spain - aside from former King of Cataluyna, Joan Laporta, who must be seething at the way his former charges are helping their ‘other country’ in South Africa - now has the biggest of man-loves for Puyol and Gerard Piqué, who were both magnificent for the whole game.

Marca declare that La Selección are the “best in the world” and LLL has neither the inclination nor the energy to take issue with that statement, despite the World Cup trophy not yet being in their grasp.

Inside, the paper praises Del Bosque’s brave but inspirational decision to let Pedro loose on the German defence and drop Fernando Torres in the process - a tough decision says the Spain coach.

“Leaving Torres out was hard, as he’s a great player, a really important kid for the group,” admitted Del Bosque. “But let’s face it, he’s been playing like my Aunt May and we buried her 15 years ago.”

Marca has also published photographs taken of supporters watching the game in all the home villages and towns of the squad and each shows scenes of jubilation and joy, aside from some surely looking sedate so-and-so’s in Hospitalet de Llobregat, the base camp of renowned jolly japester, Víctor Valdés.

Thursday is going to be about cleaning up, from Seville to Santander, in a physical and mental way. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be spent be cherishing the notion that La Roja have done it. No matter what happens on Sunday night, the word-less Spanish national anthem is going to be played at a World Cup final for the first time ever.

And perhaps, that’s when the fun really starts in Spain.

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Spain ready for most important date

Tim Stannard — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:05:00 GMT

The dead from the waist up LLL doesn’t really get excited about anything that doesn’t involve zombies. Or grapes. Or both.

However, the blog must confess that it had a sleepless Tuesday night. And that wasn’t just because it was about 1000 degrees in the Spanish capital, but because if Del Bosque’s boys beat Germany today, then frackin’ Spain will be in the frackin’ World Cup final with a very good chance of winning it against the jammy frackin Dutch!

And that is about the most thrilling thing that has happened here since Andalusia had its first inside toilet installed way back in 2007.

If the celebrations after doing one over the Dutch, on Sunday, are even as half as insane as those for the Euro 2008 win, then every fountain in the land will have a good 1000 pogo-ing people dancing in it and no bin will remain unburned.

Unfortunately, for all that to pass then Germany are going to have to be beaten. And for all the articles being written and pundits opining, no-one really has any clue what is going to happen in Wednesday’s semi-final clash, so it’s no wonder that the footballing world has been looking to an octopus for guidance.

And speaking of creepy, hairless organisms that shoot ink whenever threatened, Luis Aragonés has also been probed thoroughly for his views on the titanic Teutonic clash.

Despite being publicly told to shut his cakehole by the Marca director, Eduardo Inda, earlier in the tournament after criticising La Roja’s performances, the former Spain boss has now been given all the space he needs in the paper to ruminate on Wednesday’s clash - a cogitation that ended with the prediction that “I think Spain will go through (squirt, squirt).”

Inda agrees and has already begun taunting Sunday’s possible opponents with the jibe, “great! Holland are in the final, so what?” “If we go through tonight then we are champions,” predicts Marca’s main man attempting to match the paper’s genius “Zidane, we are going to retire you, tonight” boast from the 2006 World Cup clash against France.

In Wednesday’s editorial, the jar marked hyperbole has been as left as empty as Guti’s brain with the paper claiming that “we are at the most important date in Spanish football. La Roja are on the cusp of glory, and just two steps away from becoming legends.”

The vibe as AS more of concern that confidence and are quite rightly fretting over the footballing prowess of Germany with the paper’s editor Alfredo Relaño noting that “we call the Germans squareheads because deep down we envy their virtues.”

Both Schweinsteiger and Villa appear on the front cover with the Spain man trying to look mean and moody but instead giving the impression that he has trapped wind.

Wednesday’s edition also helpfully points out that there are 400,000 Germans living in Spain, but disappointedly fails to print their addresses as a handy guide as the nearest person taunt should la Roja prevail.

The Catalan papers may have joined in the hype over the clash a little bit more enthusiastically, but have discovered that their beloved Barcelona are broke with new president, Sandro Rosell admitting that he has “found a club that is indebted” and has had to borrow €150m from a credit syndicate to pay June’s bills.

However, Sport's Josep María Casanovas still has his eyes on the prize in Durban and says that “we have the players, the team and the ambition. There is no fear of Germany, on the contrary Germany respect us now.”

Aside from thoughts of becoming legends, touching glory and making history, the theme in Spain on the day of their semi-final dust-up is indecision when looking to who will be the winner.

Which is why LLL will be spending the final hours before the clash doing what everyone else is doing by pacing the streets going “SPAIN! No, Germany. SPAIN!, No Germany. SPAIN! No, Germany...”

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Spain left with selection dilemma

Michael Cox — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:56:00 GMT

Michael Cox, editor of ZonalMarking.net, on the World Cup semi-finals and the selection posers facing each manager...

Spain and Holland have something in common at this tournament. Both have got to the semi-finals and yet have slightly underwhelmed with their progression – slightly odd, considering they are two matches away from the first World Cup win in their history.

Perhaps our expectations for them were simply too inflated. The sides feature some of the world’s best most technically-gifted footballers – Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Xabi Alonso, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie amongst others – and both countries’ football is generally associated with style and excitement rather than cold hard success in terms of results – probably as a consequence of both sides’ historical underachievement.

That flair has not been in evidence so far at this competition. Neither has won a game particularly convincingly throughout the tournament – each has only recorded one victory by a margin greater than a single goal – Holland with an opening day 2-0 win over Denmark, and Spain’s 2-0 win over minnows Honduras. We’ve yet to see a genuinely top-class performance from either team.

And yet, the results keep coming. This raises an interesting question about both – are they more pragmatic, unspectacular, efficient sides than their predecessors, that are happy to scrap to one-goal victories rather than play fancy football, or are they trying to play their traditional style of football and simply not clicking?

The answer probably lies somewhere in between. Both sides are slightly struggling in the same two departments – first, with a lack of width, as covered previously (Robben has returned for Holland, but his tendency to cut inside against Brazil was rather predictable) and secondly, with concerns about their main striker.

The problems with Fernando Torres’ form, fitness and confidence have been well-documented at this tournament, and a look at Spain’s performances after his departure in their most recent two games leads to the inevitable conclusion that he deserves to be dropped from the side.

Spain simply lack cohesion in the final third when he plays –the driving runs of Cesc Fabregas, the width of Pedro or Jesus Navas, or the more direct route of Fernando Llorente seem a better option.

Robin van Persie hasn’t been that much better, but his place is assured because of the relative lack of alternatives. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has a good record at international level but still lacks the true quality required, whilst the other option – pushing Dirk Kuyt forward and bringing in another winger – would destabilize the team because Kuyt’s defensive awareness has been vital for the Dutch so far.

Aside from suspensions, both Holland and Spain will probably play the same system and players in the final four.

All of this ignores the fact that both have done rather well to reach the last four of the competition – if it had been Italy or Germany battling through with narrow victories, we’d probably be slightly more convinced of their competence – it would be typical displays from both.

Germany, of course, are the team who have been by far the most exciting of the final four. They’ve scored twice as many goals as Spain, and four more than Holland, playing some wonderful football along the way.

The 4-1 win over England didn’t receive as much credit as it should have done in the British media, with England’s woes getting far more attention. The 4-0 victory over Argentina confirmed their class - results like that very rarely happen in the knockout stages of international tournaments – and let’s not forget that they started the competition as relative outsiders compared to England and Argentina.

The surprise in the semi-finals is Uruguay. They are unique in tactical terms, as they are the only one of the four not to have played a 4-2-3-1 (or close) throughout the competition. Indeed, Oscar Tabarez has deployed three separate formations and used his star man, Diego Forlan, in a variety of roles so far.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the absence of Luis Suarez. Sebastian Abreu looks the most likely replacement in what would be a straight swap, especially with the news that winger Nicolas Lodeiro is out of the tournament.

So the only team that are without suspensions – Spain – are the only side who have real selection and formation dilemmas as a whole. All four managers have big decisions to make ahead of the semi-final clashes.

More from Michael Cox:
June 28: Five defensive lessons
June 22: Mind the quality? Feel the width
June 17: Defences on top in first round
June 12: Back three back in fashion

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Were Spain excellent...or just average?

Tim Stannard — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:44:00 GMT

La Liga Loca’s ‘Ladeez of Battlestar Galactica’ calendar - Cylon Boomer is next month’s model, yay! - says that July is almost upon us.

And that means the blog has been watching and droning on about football non-stop for some eleven months now. This might explain why LLL has even less of a clue than usual on what in jumping Josephine’s longjohns is going on in the wide, wide world of sport.

The blog thought that Spain’s footballing efforts against Switzerland and Honduras were quite good, whilst the performances against Chile and most recently of all, Portugal were a little like an average episode of CSI: it passes the time and entertains you in snatches with the occasional cool shot of a bullet going very slowly through a shoulder blade (ah, so that's what happened to Joan Capdevilla last night - ed.).

LLL senses that the good people of Madrid may agree. During Euro 2008, the singing/car horn tooting after each victory went on for days. On Tuesday night, it had all but stopped half-an-hour after the 1-0 win over Portugal, aside from the odd tool who decided to celebrate at 4.30 in the morning.

However, the sporting press don’t seem to follow this more modest vibe. The TV broadcasters of the Portugal clash spent 90 minutes shouting “Excellent Puyol! Excellent Busquets! Excellent Torres!” Every. Time. They. Did. Anything.

This is especially deluded in the case of the Liverpool striker who will surely be sent back to England forthwith branded with a big ‘damaged goods’ mark on his Fuenlabradan forehead, especially after Fernando Llorente’s fairly bright cameo appearance.

Marca have gone most nuts with the headline of “This is my Spain!”. “The reds get their rhythm and touch back that made them the best in the world!....The triumph of the masters!” continues the paper before declaring victory on Saturday in their editorial.

“Spain has everything. A beatable opponent but one we’ll have to be careful of in Paraguay and on top of everything else, a group of wonderful footballers capable of amazing the whole world.”

AS are just as nuts in their assessment of the 1-0 win against a team that barely bothered to attack with the paper happily going into stereotype mode with the headline “Bullfighters!”

“A good match, a good win and a good rival for the quarters,” smugs the paper’s editor Alfredo Relaño who puts Spain straight into a possible semi-final clash against Germany or Argentina where LLL expects La Selección to get their a**es handed to them unless they improve across the board over the next week.

Deeper inside the paper the wonderfully mad Tomás Roncero, who has been let loose in South Africa, writes that Spain has got back “its lyrics, its music, its prose, its verse, its tiki, its taka, its possession, its obsession...”

Even Luis Aragonés, who has been poking away at his former charges from the beginning of the tournament - as is his right Mr Marca Director, Eduardo Inda, who wrote a nasty, little editorial suggesting that the Euro 2008 winner “shuts up” - is a little chipper and notes that “the Spain we want to see was in the second half.

”How to deal with Cristiano Ronaldo’s - ahem - display in the Spain clash has left both Madridista papers in a bit of quandary. AS are less bent over Real Madrid’s spanking knee and so are happy to award the pouty-one zero points from three for his footballing stylings and snigger that he was “back to failing in a decisive game.”

Marca give him one point but did opine that the brave little Madrid soldier “walked alone with his eyes glazed and fury in his face.”

Ronaldo’s general hopelessness in the tournament gave Barcelona-based Sport a chance for a chuckle with Josep Maria Casanovas noting that the culé-for-life, product of La Masia and “great Barcelona signing, David Villa, had the Madrid star for breakfast in a spectacular manner before the eyes of the football world.”

But all the praise being thrown in Spain’s direction has got the blog genuinely thinking that it has lost the plot and has squashed its footballing compass.

Is it getting too old for this kind of (cough), as they say in Lethal Weapon?

Maybe La Furia Roja were back to their best? Maybe a final berth is in the bag?

Or maybe there are other voices in the wilderness who feel the same grumpy way as La Liga Loca?

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Spain down in the dumps despite win

Tim Stannard — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:54:00 GMT

Despite some tingly moments in Monday night’s 2-0 win over Honduras, the fountains of Spain remained unmolested and its car horns went untooted when the final whistle blew.

It’s the surest of sign that suffering Spain is full of some very unhappy campers, indeed.

This maudlin malaise is reflected in Tuesday’s sporting press which is in full brooding mode. “They weren’t that bad, but they weren’t that good” sniffed Barcelona-based Sport, a paper that enjoyed the smug knowledge that their new toy, David Villa, was one of the few positives from the World Cup encounter.

AS sum up the general sensation in Spain that La Selección is still lacking a certain footballing finesse and missing far too many chances to make Friday’s match against Chile a comfortable one.

“We won (but it doesn’t look like Spain)” says Tuesday’s headline with editor, Alfredo Relaño, mixing metaphors while complaining that he “didn’t like anything about the game...the line-up was like a dog with a thousand leashes that mixed differing tactics.”

“Confusion and bipolarity” was the less-than-impressed assessment in the paper’s match report.

There has been strong criticism of Jesús Navas and his iffy delivery - a little harsh in LLL’s humble opinion - but that is nothing compared to the battering received by poor old, not-even-bought-a-copy-of-Sporting-Life-nevermind-at-the-races Fernando Torres who is forehead branded with a rare zero in the AS match ratings due to his Honduran game from hell.

Villa and Torres together are like “ice cream and a sickly cake,” was the response from the normally insanely enthusiastic Tomás Roncero who argues that the pair simply cannot play together - something that Barcelona seem to disagree with, for starters, considering there are rumours of a bid for the Liverpool man.

Torres does get some sympathy from former Madrid manager, Bernd Schuster, who writes in Marca that the forward is still recovering from his spell on the sidelines and “is lacking those small details that return after an injury after 10 to 12 matches.” Not great news in a tournament which has just five potential games left for La Furia Roja.

Marca’s mood is a similar one to the rest of Spain. Vicente Del Bosque’s men “mixed brilliant moments with worrying aspects,” opined Santiago Segurola. His colleague, Roberto Palomar, was less kind and grumbled that Spain were “the world champions in missing chances.”

“It was like watching a heavyweight boxer chasing a featherweight all around the ring trying to whack him with a knockout punch,” complains Palomar who mocks the “500 bad centres” from Navas and “the 200 shots” from Torres.

The paper’s increasingly entertaining referee, Rafa Guerrero, is much more optimistic, though. And it’s not surprising considering Spain would be sitting at the top of their group with six points and a goal difference of plus five if the Marca man ruled the footballing world.

Rafa already feels that La Selección would have beaten the Swiss 1-0 had the game been officiated to his famously high standards. And that would have been topped off by a 4-0 victory over Honduras with two more penalties if it weren’t for the pesky ref who the retired Rafa said wasn’t up to the job even before the match had begun, on the general grounds that he came from Japan.

“The performance of Nishimura proves that in this World Cup, Spain is clearly being prejudiced,” rants Rafa.

The mood from Madrid to Marbella is likely to fluctuate between optimism and misery over the next four days. If Chile play at their best and Spain continue on their path of profligacy, then La Selección could be in some trouble, with Switzerland expected to beat Honduras.

But if just one or two more of those 47 chances being created per game go in - and FIFA give the side a referee that Rafa approves of - then Del Bosque’s boys should squeeze through to the infamous ‘octavos’, the round still feared by all supporters in Spain.

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