2010 Review Part Two: World Cup Glory

In the second part of our look back at 2010 in Spanish football, we focus on what was an incredible summer for the national team.

On 10 May, Vicente Del Bosque named his 23 man squad for the World Cup in South Africa. There were no real surprises with seven players (Valdés, Puyol, Piqué, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta and Pedro) coming from Barcelona and five (Casillas, Albiol, Ramos, Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso) from Real Madrid. There were also four players (Marchena, Silva, Mata and Villa) from Valencia, two (Javi Martínez and Fernando Llorente) from Athletic Bilbao and two more (Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres) from Liverpool. Finally there was one from Arsenal (Cesc Fabregas), one from Sevilla (Jesus Navas) and one from Villarreal (Joan Capdevila).

After qualifying with a 100% record, the expectations on the national side were huge. Not only were Spain the reigning European Champions but they had arguably the best generation of players in their history. However, Spain had been one of the favourites before and had disappointed. Unconvincing friendly wins over Saudi Arabia and South Korea led some to doubt whether this squad would be any different. The players responded in their final warm up match with a 6-0 win over Poland in front of their own fans in Murcia and with confidence restored they flew out to South Africa.

The Group Stages

Spain had been drawn in group H along with Switzerland, Honduras and Chile. On paper it was a relatively easy group for a team of Spain’s quality but as they soon found out, being overwhelming favourites can be dangerous.

Spain kicked off on 16 June against Switzerland in Durban. Despite having 67% of the possession and 22 shots on goal, they lost to a 52^nd minute Fernandes goal. The defeat was the first big shock of the competition and for many people in Spain it was early proof that the national side would once again disappoint when the moment of truth arrived. The media started to question the formation Del Bosque was using. The fitness of Fernando Torres, recently back from a lengthy spell on the sidelines, was also brought up. There were even suggestions that the presence of TV journalist Sara Carbonero, Iker Casillas’s girlfriend, was having a distracting influence on the Spain captain. Indeed it was Carbonero who interviewed an awkward looking Casillas after the match.

While some panicked, one man stayed calm. Despite the shock start, Vicente Del Bosque kept faith with his starting eleven and his formation. After all, the loss was only Spain’s second in 49 games. In their next match, Spain overcame Honduras 2-0 thanks to a double from David Villa. The score line could have been more emphatic if Villa had not missed a penalty but the relief was evident in the way the players celebrated the victory.

After two matches, Chile topped group H with six points while Spain and Switzerland sat joint second with three points each. With Switzerland facing bottom team Honduras in their last game, Spain knew they had to beat Chile to guarantee qualification for the knock out stage of the competition. Victory against Chile and Switzerland failing to beat Honduras would also guarantee Spain top spot in the group and they would therefore avoid Brazil in the next round. However, with Chile also facing the prospect of going out should Switzerland win, the game promised to be difficult one.

Spain started the game the brighter of the two teams and went one nil up on 25 minutes when Villa scored from distance after Chile keeper Claudio Bravo charged from goal to close down Fernando Torres. The goal calmed Spain’s nerves and close to half time they got a second when Iniesta coolly finished after being played in by Villa. In the build up to that move Fernando Torres appeared to be tripped and Estrada was shown a red card. With Chile now down to 10 men, it looked like plain sailing for Spain but two minutes into the second half Chile got a goal back when Millar’s shot was deflected past Casillas. The goal gave Chile some hope but in the end it wasn’t enough as Spain saw out the match. Spain qualified as group winners and although it had been more difficult than many had expected, the prospect of a humiliating early exit had been vanquished.

Llorente to the rescue

By winning their group, Spain had avoided the much fancied Brazil but in Portugal they faced a team more than capable of defeating them. The Portuguese hadn’t conceded a goal and had shown their attacking threat by putting seven goals past North Korea in the group stage. Spain’s unconvincing start had led some, including ex-boss Luís Aragones, to doubt whether Spain had it in them to overcome their Iberian neighbours.

As expected the game was a close affair. Spain started brightly but Portugal came back into it just before the break. Del Bosque had shown faith in striker Fernando Torres who had still failed to produce anything like his best form. This game was no different with the Liverpool front man looking well off the pace. On 58 minutes Del Bosque took steps to remedy the situation, replacing Torres with Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente.

Many of the Spanish press were surprised by the change, expecting Pedro or Fabregas to be brought on but the substitution proved to be the correct one. Llorente instantly changed the game, unsettling Portuguese defenders Carvalho and Pepe with his physical presence. After almost scoring with his first touch, Llorente played his part in the only goal of the game.

Iniesta picked the ball up on the edge of the Portuguese box before playing the ball into Llorente. The big striker held the ball up before feeding it back to Iniesta who slipped it through to Xavi. The Barcelona midfielder then cleverly back-heeled the ball to Villa who had stolen in behind the Portuguese back line. Villa’s first shot was saved by Eduardo but the striker was composed enough to lift the rebound over the keeper and into the roof of the net.

The goal sparked wild celebrations amongst players and technical staff as they knew one goal would probably be enough to win the tie. It was also a turning point for Del Bosque who had won over his doubters in the media with his inspired substitution.

The victory against Portugal took Spain through to the quarter finals. Spain had never progressed beyond this stage in a World Cup therefore victory against Paraguay would make this campaign their most successful ever. Although Paraguay had done well in the group stage and had several players playing at top European teams, Spain were overwhelming favourites. Once again, the situation of being expected to win games comfortably didn’t sit well with Spain.

Villa Maravilla

Paraguay started the game strongly and were unlucky not to go in front when Valdez had a goal harshly ruled out for offside. Spain were enjoying a lot of possession but Paraguay looked very dangerous on the break and had the perfect chance to go in front on 57 minutes when Piqué hauled down Cardozo in the box. In what was a turning point in Spain’s World Cup, Casillas pulled off a great save to keep the score line blank. Moments later, Spain were awarded a penalty of their own when Villa was brought down. Villa had missed a penalty in the group stage so responsibility was handed over to Xabi Alonso. The midfielder stepped up and stroked the ball home only to be told he had to retake the penalty. Incredibly his retake was saved by the keeper and Sergio Ramos’s follow up cleared off the line.

In what was arguably the tensest game Spain played during the tournament, Villa won it with 8 minutes to go. Once again a substitute played a big part in the goal when Pedro found space and fired in a low drive. The Barcelona striker’s shot came back off the post and fell to the feet of Villa who curled a shot that came off both posts before finishing in the net. Once again the goal was met by wild celebrations which were as much about relief as they were joy.

Visca Espanya: Puyol is the hero

Spain now faced their first ever World Cup semi final against a Germany side looking for revenge following their loss to Spain in the European Championship final two years earlier. Of course, World Cup semi finals were nothing new to the Germans who went into the game in excellent form having won 4-1 and 4-0 against England and Argentina respectively.

Until this point, Vicente Del Bosque had kept faith in Fernando Torres but the Liverpool striker just wasn’t producing the goods and so Del Bosque brought in Barcelona sensation Pedro. Despite this match being the biggest in Spanish footballing history, the pressure seemed to have eased a little with Spain no longer thought of as the clear favourite. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this led to their best performance of the tournament as Spain imposed themselves on their opponents from the outset.

Midfield maestro Xavi was pulling the strings and it was from his corner on 73 minutes that Puyol rose to bullet home the only goal of the game. The goal wasn’t one you might typically associate with Spain but it showed that Del Bosque’s team had the fighting spirit within them to produce the goods when it counted. The Germans couldn’t recover and Spain almost added a second near the end when Pedro was put through but it didn’t prove to be costly as Spain celebrated their first ever World Cup final.

IInnnieessstttaaa!!

World Cup finals are rarely classics and the 2010 final between Spain and Holland was no exception. In fact the game will probably be remembered for the number of fouls committed, particularly by the Dutch.

In what was a tense game, referee Howard Webb booked 5 players within the first 28 minutes. The Dutch seemed eager to prevent Spain building up the sort of rhythm they had against Germany and Van Bommel sent a message of intent when he went through the back of Iniesta. Next to have a go was De Jong who was extremely lucky to avoid a red card when he karate kicked Xabi Alonso in the chest. The number of fouls and stoppages was having its desired effect and the first half ended goalless.

The first big moment of the second half arrived when Robben broke free of the Spanish defense but Casillas stood up well to block the striker’s effort. Spain responded through Ramos who headed over from inside the penalty area. Robben then had another chance to win it when he was put through again but a combination of Puyol and Casillas put the striker off. There was one final chance to win the game in the regulation 90 when Fabregas was one on one but the Dutch keeper stood up well to block his shot.

Extra time continued to be a tense affair with Holland committing yet more fouls. On 109 minutes the inevitable happened when Howard Webb showed Dutch defender Heitinga a second yellow and Holland were down to 10 men. The one man advantage spurred Spain on and 7 minutes later Iniesta scored the most important goal in the history of Spanish football. Substitute Cesc Fabregas picked up a loose ball and slipped Iniesta in. The Barcelona player steadied himself and blasted the ball past Stekelenburg to spark wild scenes. The Dutch had no response, they had run themselves into the ground and when the final whistle went Casillas fell to his knees and started crying. He then had a very different post match interview with Sara Carbonero.

All around Spain, people partied into the early hours of the morning and beyond. In Madrid, the Castellana came to a standstill as people descended on the city centre. As one of those hundreds of thousands, I can testify firsthand how special the moment was.

Spain had won their first ever World Cup. In doing so they became the first team to win the competition after losing their opening game. Spain only scored 8 goals on route to their victory, which is the lowest amount of any winner. However, they also only conceded 2 which is another record low. Their run of four consecutive 1-0 victories made them the first winner not to have conceded in the knock out stages.

Six of the Spanish squad (Casillas, Ramos, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Villa) made the all star team while Del Bosque was voted the best manager. They had won the World Cup their way, always seeking to play good passing football. This is born out in the stats which show Xavi as the player with highest pass completion rate (89%). Xavi was also the only player to attempt over 600 passes and only player to complete at least 500. His final tally was 599 out of 669. Finally, Spain did it honestly and fairly. What makes this squad so special is their modesty. For such a collection of super stars there doesn’t appear to be any egos, any infighting or any arrogance. When talking in the press or when playing the match, Spain always respect their opponent. Perhaps the best example of this humility is Iniesta’s goal celebration. After scoring the most important goal in Spanish football history and with the whole world watching, Iniesta revealed a t-shirt dedicated to Dani Jarque, the Espanyol captain who died suddenly in training. While other players would have preferred the spotlight on them in such a moment, Iniesta didn’t think twice about making such a selfless gesture. It is therefore not surprising that with this attitude, Spain’s final award was to receive the FIFA fair play award.

check out the final part of our review of 2010 on Sunday 2 January 2011 when we look back at the season so far.