MVN - Most Valuable Network

Finally, The Sun Shines on the Spanish

A weight as heavy as the Rock of Gibraltar has been lifted from the shoulders of the Spanish futbol team.  La Madre Patria has been waiting 44 years to hoist a trophy in a major tournament, and now the long titleless siesta is over, with Spain’s victory 1-0 victory over Germany.  El Nino, Fernando Torres, after having an “almost” tournament, finally demonstrated his ferocious talent with the decisive goal, and an all around spectacular performance.  Many thought that without David Villa, Torres would have trouble dealing with Germany’s defenders.  However, the challenge brought out the best in him.  El Nino Torres looked more like a Toro (Bull), outmuscling and out outrunning German defenders for balls, while making it look effortless.  Making the game look easy is something that not only Torres did, but the entire Spanish side did, throughout the tournament.

 Their free-flowing, aggressive style of play had been a joy to watch, but people were’nt sure if it would hold up against the more defensive minded Italians, and yesterday against the Germans.  Yet it was creative aggression that triumphed over conservative preservation.  The Spanish won with their imaginative passing which was as precise and deadly as a Samurai’s sword.  They also displayed a mental toughness which had been lacking for a long time in Spanish futbol.  It was that lack of backbone in critical times that had helped create the image of the Spanish as choke artists. But yesterday, and all tournament, the Spanish mettle beamed through like the Sun over the beaches of Ibiza. This Spanish team has put the choke artist label in the grave with their dominance of the EURO Cup.

They were the best team from start to finish, in what was an epic tournament.  They never sacrificed their style of play just to get a win, and in that regard futbol in general was a winner yesterday.  Even better for the Spanish faithful is the fact that the team is full of supreme young talent like Torres, Villa, and Ramos.  Mix those and the host of other young talent with the older but still talented players like Puyol, Marchena, and Xavi in 2010, and Spain will be one of the few legitimate favorites in the World Cup.  But that is still 2 summers away, and after 44 years of longing for an international title, it’s time for the Spanish to just soak it all in and enjoy the moment because it is finally La Furia Roja’s time in the Sun.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.