About the World Cup

Here in Spain, football is a big deal. I’m not very keen on it though. I used to when I was younger. Now, I’d rather play and watch tennis instead. When it comes to World Cups or European Championships though, then yes I become somewhat of a super fan of the whole event and a big supporter of the Spanish team for sure! I find it interesting that the closer we come to the World Cup, the more I read about the players and their teams. I somehow catch up and then keep it up with all the news having to do with the event. It’s like doing my homework after 4 years! It was interesting to watch the first match, Spain versus Holland. If you’re currently watching the competition you might know at this point that the Netherlands took their revenge on us and we were demolished by them! 5-1. Such a bummer. In fact, it was interesting because I barely knew Holland’s players. They seem to have such a rejuvenated team compared to Spain’s setup which who has largely remained all the same through the last years. That might one of the few reasons why Spain huffed and puffed through the whole match. It was painful to see, to say the least.

From an outside perspective it could be said that our players’ time has passed. So in a way that you could argue it might be the time for them to stand aside and let young players to stand up. For us, spaniards it’s not that easy though. What some of these players have achieved is beyond impressive. They’ve made history by winning three major tournaments in a row (2 European Championships in 2008 and 2012 and the World Cup in 2010). So, it’s not that simple. It’s also important to stress that most of the people here in Spain are not even pissed off about what happened last week. People could’ve talked about how Casillas, the goalkeeper, screwed up big time at some point during of the match or how weak Spain’s defense was. They haven’t though. We all back them up (at least most of people do). At the end of the day, they gave us a lot of joy and happiness through the last 6 years. We’ve got a popular saying in Spanish, “en las buenas y en las malas” which it basically means “in good times and in bad”. Besides, Spain’s not done yet! They must go the extra mile next Wednesday against Chile. We’re still smarting from the blow, the five-goal hammering by the Dutch, that’s for sure. Though there’s no time for them to lick their wounds but to pull themselves together and be ready for the next battle. I bet it’ll be a thrilling match. Go Spain!