Day 5, World Cup 2010: Win first, entertain second

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


The European champions head east and land at King Shaka Airport mid-evening on a grey and drizzly Monday, June 14.
The media straggle in around midnight, a handful of us in the team hotel, the rest dispersed around the grateful B&Bs which cluster the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. By morning, Spain awake to pleasant panoramic views of the Umgeni River and its wide mouth opening out onto the currently choppy Indian Ocean.
Their hotel is pretty basic and the front desk staff have an air of the Three Stooges about them, but these are undemanding, easy-going guests: feed ‘em, give ‘em beds and get them to the match on time. Pues, todo perfecto! [All’s well]
Tomorrow will be Spain’s 50th match in World Cup finals. They have won only 22 and never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.
Spain train in the afternoon and find the grass longer than their liking; irrespective of the threat of rain they would like the pitch watered heavily before the match and at half-time. Del Bosque gets them stretching, sprinting, playing a mini-match, and then home to the Riverside Hotel.
The technical staff settle down in the terrace bar outside the breakfast room to watch Brazil beat Korea 2-1. The tournament is not sparking and while Spain are here to win first and entertain second, there is a strong sense that the rest of the world is waiting for Del Bosque’s elite, sometimes irresistible, European champions to start the party.

 

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