Last update 11 July, 2015 by Alberto Llopis
There was a 11 July 2010. Few people in Spain will have forgotten that Sunday five years ago when the dream of many generations of Spanish fans and not so soccer fans, it was fulfilled. That summer night in Spain but cool in Johannesburg, It will always go down in history, especially after that goal by Iniesta when extra time was already dying and the match was headed for penalties.
Time flies and today, 11 July 2014, it seems that everything had happened yesterday but practically everything has changed, especially in the national team. From the glory of Soccer City to the ridicule of Brazil 2014 four years passed, a successful European Championship and a not so much Confederations Cup in between, although for Del Bosque time seemed to stop and he trusted the men who had given him so much glory in 2010 without realizing that in 2014 things had changed a lot. It is normal, time does not pass for anyone.
But our goal, it is to remember that night in which Spain stood in the final of a World Cup for the first time in its history to win it. A World Cup that was not easy, that they even started by losing the first game against Switzerland and almost miraculously going through the round after beating Honduras and Chile with a lot of trouble. A path that became complicated with Cristiano's Portugal, the Paraguay of Tata Martino and a Germany that is always present in the semifinals.
Spain surpassed the three rivals, winning the three games by the minimum, almost heroically to achieve it. Finally, their rival in the final was a Netherlands that faced a World Cup final for the third time in its history.. The match was tense, stand, especially by the Dutch who distributed with total impunity before the eyes of Howard Webb, the English referee who always appears in all the big matches. Of course, everyone remembers De Jong's almost criminal kick on Xavi Alonso's chest that should have left the Netherlands team one less.
Of course, We couldn't forget the figure of Iker Casillas either.. The Madrid goalkeeper, Today in the eye of the hurricane and very far from being who he was and to whom Del Bosque has done a disservice by insisting with his presence in the goal, especially after being a substitute at Real Madrid for a year and a half with two different coaches, saved the Spanish team before Iniesta scored the most important goal in the history of Spanish football.
In a very clear heads-up by Arjen Robben, Iker, saved what was the winning goal and possibly the one that would have given the country of tulips the World Cup. Robben certainly had his revenge four years later although seeing the final result , sure that everyone in Spain stays with the victory of 2010. Finally, the match was doomed to extra time and when everyone was already preparing for penalties, the decisive move arrived..
Cesc Fabregas, invented a masterful pass from the edge of the box for Iniesta that triggered the Dutch goalkeeper before the collective madness of television commentators, radio and of course Spanish fans within Soccer City and especially in Spain. sure you, you are reading this article, if you are spanish, Do you remember how you celebrated that day?. On Hanged, we would like you to tell us.
