Running right alongside Brazil 2014, this is my day-by-day story of how Spain won the last World Cup.
These stories are from Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble, by Graham Hunter
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This is one of those double-training days and already the Spaniards are in good humour. They can walk from their accommodation, past the heated outdoor pool, across a short green space, into the dressing rooms. From there, they move out through a tunnel and smack into the middle of the bleachers, which the scrum of media and the delirious locals will co-habit. Reporters hang over the railings calling out for the nod and wink which means an interview will happen; the locals holler, swoon and beg for autographs.
It being early winter, the mid-morning sun is strong, the sky is azure and the pitch cut so short and smooth it could be used to play billiards on. The Spanish federation director of football, Fernando Hierro, tells me: “It´s thrilling to have facilities which are of this high quality. The playing surface here is stupendous.”