The Plaza de Colón in Madrid It was the place chosen to expose, ten years later, the World Cup that Spain won in South Africa. The square was the epicenter of the celebrations 10 years ago and for that reason, it was chosen to remember the World Cup.
A large number of fans went there from early in the morning to immortalize themselves with the trophy and also see up close a Jabulani ball signed by the protagonists of that feat. Neither the intense heat nor the fact of having to queue for several minutes to reach the ballot boxes where both objects were exposed stopped none of those present.
Equipped with Andrés Iniesta, Francisco Alarcón ‘Isco’ t-shirts or even basketball player Pau Gasol; everyone was still excited remembering Iniesta's goal and the title.
Despite the large influx of people at such a difficult time, the organization of the event took care of all kinds of details to avoid contagions from the coronavirus and even provided bottles of water to attendees.
Like the fans, faces known as the former footballer also appeared. Fernando Torres, the mayor of the city José Luis Martínez-Almeida and the councilor Andrea Levy or Joaquín de Arístegui (director of sports of the CSD).
“We all remember it as six magnificent years in which the World Cup was in between. It was an incredible moment of union in the country, of joy. It was a spectacular group, with a tremendous commitment like I have never seen during my career, “he stressed towers. “Ten years later we are still celebrating here. Hopefully another generation will come that will succeed, but it was years where we really enjoyed ourselves and achieved something very important for sports, not just for football, ”he added.
He also spoke of the responsibility they had: “It was a responsibility that we acquired with pleasure because we were sure of ourselves, we knew that the whole country was behind us, that we were all united. The only but we can put is that it was very far and it took us a while to come back to celebrate with all the people who were waiting impatiently. The bus ride through the city are images that one has in mind and are never forgotten. ”
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For his part Martínez-Almeida He said: “This is an award for Madrid and for Spain. But I truly believe that the prize for all of us is that group of players who made us cry with happiness first in Austria, then in South Africa and later in Ukraine. The human quality of all that team and Vicente del Bosque made all of us Spaniards take to the streets ten years ago in all the cities of the country, happy as they could not. ”
As to Levy, he pointed out: “I experienced it in Barcelona and never have so many Spanish flags been seen there as that day, because we were all a team and we wanted the unit, all our players and our country to win. It was very exciting to live there and see how everyone was taking to the streets. “
To finish he took the floor From Arístegui: “In addition to being a milestone and a feat in the sporting career of our National Team, it was a special victory because of how it qualified, arriving from a maximum difficulty in the first match to the final against a great competitor like the Netherlands. It was a very special way of winning that united the National Team and all the Spanish “.