Carlos Martínez: “Spain was in 2010 like Brazil in 1970”

Carlos Martinez and Joaquín Maroto, who were partners in Canal + and SER, are two of the oldest journalists who follow the Selection. In South Africa they lived unforgettable moments, finally.

What great memories … Do you think they will repeat before we can no longer see it?

Well I honestly think it will be very difficult. I wish we were lucky enough to experience something similar, and more so than we were fortunate enough to experience it there, in South Africa. But I don't think it will happen again.

What did you think after the defeat against Switzerland?

Well I remember I had a leap of faith. In the World Cup in South Africa, social networks began to have more influence, and Noemi de Miguel was commissioned to work. She came with her camera to ask me about the future of Spain in the World Cup just after the defeat against Switzerland. And I was blunt: 'Now is when I am most sure that we are going to win the World Cup,' I said.

Do you remember the mess that arose with the double pivot? What a mess!

Well, I think it was the best contribution from Del Bosque, because with that he adjusted the defensive system that was what Luis had left pending.

Why do you think Luis Aragonés accepted Al Jazeera's offer to comment on that World Cup and not the one made by Spanish channels?

I guess he did not want to be at the epicenter of the Selection. You already know that the commentators coexist with the team and with the journalists who accompany it, and that they are eating or dining every day with Lama, Maroto, Castaño, Carreño, Rivero, Martínez … I suppose Luis wanted to be close but far away, at your leisure.

For you, what was the critical moment of the World Cup? For me Casillas stop to Cardozo's penalty, with 0-0 against Paraguay …

That sure penalty … Villa's goal against Bielsa's Chile is also in my memory. I remember that move on the left in which Torres does not give up an impossible ball to the point that it forces Claudio Bravo to go beyond what is reasonable, which Villa uses to score with the left, with a shot from almost the bench height … And of course Puyol's header. Come on, if they tell us before the game that we were going to eliminate Germany with a header, nobody believes it!

Do you know that Toni Grande said that the final was going to be played by Holland against the 'Netherlands', joking about the average height of Spain …?

Hahahahaha … I didn't know. But it's great. I'll ask him when I see him and we'll laugh for a while. What an occurrence!

Toni now lives in Malaga … Will Spain have a Selection like that of the 2008-2012 cycle?

South African Spain was like the Brazil of the 70s, something magical, unique and I think unrepeatable. That is why he achieved what another team never did: close the Euro-World-Euro cycle between 2008 and 2012.

That Spain made the best football we have ever seen?

Definitely. Going to a game in Spain was like going to an amusement park. The public was amused in the stands and the players on the field. Until that Spain appeared, we had all grown up with the soccer of Brazil and the victories of Italy. Come on, as a child what you were excited about was wearing the Brazilian shirt, not ours. Until Xavi, Iniesta, Silva, Villa arrived … that's when everything changed. What Luis invented and matured Del Bosque was wonderful. The truth, it was a liberation for all, and for those who carry as many World Cups as you carry, because I suppose more …

Well, I started to make the Selection with Miguel Muñoz as coach and Miera and Suárez as assistants, and I'm already going for Luis Enrique … Anyway, Del Bosque and Luis were two teachers, without a doubt.

I remember that before the Eurocup in 2008 we went to visit Luis, in the Federation, who was then the boss of Cuatro, Elena Sánchez, Manolo Lama and myself. We told him that we were going to take the National Team to the streets, that we were going to fill the squares of Spain with giant screens and that we wanted to turn 'A for them, hear' into everyone's cry. He looked a little skeptical, almost disbelieving … Then, the same day of the final against Germany, at El Prater, Luis appeared without warning, by surprise, to thank the effort that we had all made to support the National Team. It was very exciting.

As much as watching that National Team play, which was like an amazing discovery …

I think so! At that meeting we had in Las Rozas we also took the opportunity to ask Luis Aragonés, who had been the master of the contras, how he was going to do to play with that team, full of touch players. His response was great: 'When you see them play the ball you realize that you have no choice but to let them do what they know, because nobody can do it better.' He had sacrificed his idea to his footballers, and that makes him very great.

It is curious, if any Spaniard is asked about any important day in his life, he must still remember, but if he is asked where he saw the final in South Africa, he will respond immediately, without hesitation or mistake …

It is true! You may not remember the details of the wedding or christening, but where and with whom you saw the final in South Africa is something that every Spaniard has etched in memory. It was something that united an entire country.