Running right alongside Brazil 2014, this is my day-by-day story of how Spain won the last World Cup. You can catch up on previous posts.
These stories are from Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble, by Graham Hunter
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Today is Sunday and a single session, with the players given the afternoon off. This accounts for their grumpiness when they are told to report, in full playing kit, to the meeting room in their student accommodation block.
This is the bunker from which Del Bosque will lead them to victory, where the opposition is meticulously picked apart, but today the players are to get the referee briefing which each squad must listen to before their campaign gets underway. The referee committee has sent them Horacio Elizondo, the official in charge of the Berlin World Cup final four years previously.
Elizondo tries to ensure that every player is clear about how strictly obstruction will be enforced; how much influence ‘natural’ and ‘voluntary’ body positions will be taken into account in judging whether a handball must be ruled as a penalty or not. After an hour-long refresher course, their Argentinian professor hits them with a Q&A. Casillas, Alonso and Reina are top of the class.
However, there is restlessness. Once Elizondo finishes and solicits any further questions, Xavi (given the nod from his captain, Casillas) is polite but extremely firm in asking the ref to take a missive back to FIFA.
“We’ve sat here for an hour listening about how the rules are going to be interpreted, but you go back and you tell Sepp Blatter that because FIFA aren’t watering the pitches anything like sufficiently, and because they aren’t cutting the surface short enough they are handing a premium to defensive football. If he wants good football and he wants entertainment, tell him to sort the pitches out.”