Spain I was looking to get into semifinals of a world for the first time in its history. In 1950When she finished fourth, what she disputed was a final group with Uruguay, Brazil and Sweden. History played against because in the four occasions what did he play quarters was eliminated: in 1934 and 1994 for Italy, in 1986 for Belgium and in 2002 for Korea. Selection of Paraguay It was him stumbling block to make history.
To achieve the objective, the Selection returns to Johannesburg to play with Paraguay. Again to Ellis Park where he beat Honduras. The intention, to recall the film Invictus, with Mandela and Pienaar, based on the book of John Carlin, AS columnist in that World Cup, by the way. That July 2, La Roja was train in the mythical stadium where South Africa won the Rugby World Cup to prepare for the quarter game.
In the official press conference from the day before organized by FIFA at Ellis Park, Forest makes a statement of intent: “We want to pass with good gamenot in any way. “And he also asked prudence detecting a climate of excessive optimism between fans and special envoys: “We cannot think of the semifinals without having played the quarters.”
That day, the Selection technicians who were busy analyzing Spain's immediate rival shared their analysis with AS. Paco Jiménez and Antonio Fernández were in charge of making the reports so that Del Bosque and Toni Grande they knew how the opponents played. The dossier they had made from Paraguay both analysts were already in the coach's folder after having studied all the phases of the game and the opponent's strategy plays of rooms, to which they had seen all their games. Paco Jiménez, who worked with Del Bosque in the quarry of Madrid and the first team, we advanced that Paraguay “I know looks much more like Chile than to Switzerland; defends well, but presses better. The team leader is Alcaraz and his greatest danger, with set pieces “. Paco Jiménez and Antonio Fernández had already done their job. They never went to matches in Spain because his was analyze the rival retail. They were now working on the analysis of the possible next rival and They went to see Germany-Argentina.
That day the agencies reported that players in Paraguay would use the Guarani language so that its indications were not discovered by Spain during the tparty course between both selections.
This was a measure that they had already carried out in previous clashes before groups that spoke in Spanish.
The option of using the Guaraní and being able to give directions without being understood by their rivals gave them a extra surprise element to create more danger. In a match, and more in a quarterfinal, all weapons are used within the regulations. Would you overcome speak guaraní to the tiqui taca?