Spanish finally get hands on football’s biggest prize
For so long Spain has suffered at the World Cup.
The defeat on penalties to Belgium in Mexico ‘86 and to South Korea in ‘02 followed with a second-round exit to France in Germany ‘06. All disappointing, and all left questions of whether La Roja would ever conquer the world.
Andrés Iniesta’s goal in extra-time gave the Spanish their first World Cup triumph, and finally, they showed the world they can do it on football’s biggest stage.
The Euro 2008 champions became the third team to win a World Cup and European championship within two years. France won the World Cup in ’98 and Euro 2000 and West Germany in Euro’ 72 and World Cup ’74.
Spain manager Vicente del Bosque was given a vote of confidence after their opening game defeat to Switzerland. Well, what’s the best way to assure a nation that you are the right man for the job? Winning a World Cup maybe.
The former Real Madrid manager has installed the playing philosophy of Barcelona within this Spanish team, and after last night he believes the success was “a reward for beautiful football.”
“I'm here to speak about the beautiful things in football. It was a very intense game, balanced and even. It was rough at times but that's part of football. They made it very difficult for us to play comfortably. There was pressing from both sides but football is moving forward. The reward today was for beautiful football,” said Del Bosque.
The 59-year-old also paid tribute to his Dutch opponents. “First of all, I should congratulate our opponents. They made it very difficult for us to play comfortably. It's been a very intense match, and congratulations to them.”
“The dressing room is delighted, ecstatic. But Spain, the country, deserves this triumph, this World Cup. This goes beyond sport. We have to celebrate. All the people have been behind us in Spain, and we're delighted to reward them with this victory,” he said.
Goal scorer Iniesta took off his shirt to reveal a message in honour of Spaniard Daniel Jarque, who tragically passed away last year from a heart attack. “We wanted to pay tribute to him and this was the best opportunity to do so,” he said.
Iniesta got onto the end of Cesc Fabrégas’ pass in the 116th minute. “I really can't believe it yet. It hasn't sunk in. I've made a small contribution in a very tough game, a very rough game – there were all sorts of things happening out on the pitch – but Spain deserved to win this World Cup. It's something we should all feel very proud about. Incredible.”
All the heartache of past World Cup’s has now been put to bed.
Tags: