In the Spain Francoist and autarkic that preceded democracy made the nickname ‘the fury’ as a proud definition of the Spanish soccer team. That denomination appealed to a primitive native instinct against which, supposedly, the rivals would fall surrendered. The story barely found opponents because that is what dictatorships consist of and because the title of the Eurocup of 1964 before the Soviet Union The regime went pearl-fueled, fueling the idea that Spain it had been capable of nothing less than defeating communism. Died Frank but Spanish football, despite the quality of its school, had a hard time detaching itself from that stigma. Until a change began in the 1990s that paid off in 2008 with a second Eurocup and especially in 2010, when he triumphed for the first time in history with the highest possible title, the world.
It was in South Africa where the fury definitely passed to a better life. The funeral was joyous. The team, led by a generation of talent never seen before, chose the soft touch of the ball to achieve their goal. The goal of the final, against Holland, marked it Andrew
Iniesta, the guy who best embodied an innovative, revolutionary way of understanding the game.
The players involved point to Luis Aragones as the original catalyst for change. The coach, a contemporary of the fury years, always knew that testosterone has a limited track record in the sport if it is not accompanied by other qualities. He himself was a good footballer, and later as a coach he knew how to detect the quality of an emerging generation of talented footballers who would end up changing history. Xavi Hernandez embodies that transformation like few others. The midfielder picked up momentum with Aragonese, who decided to approach him to the opposite goal and uninhibit him until his release.
Vicente del Bosque he inherited the wicker lent by Aragonese and sublimated them, giving continuity to the best Barca of history, the one who trained Guardiola, adapting it for the selection taking control of its winning chassis. With players like Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Busquets, Puyol, Pique or Pedro, seasoned with compatible elements such as David
Silva, Spain embraced the style of touch associated with The farmhouse and it universalized it using as instrument the soccer of selections. Iker Casillas, the best goalkeeper of the time, feline and touched by luck in the moments that separate success from failure; Sergio
Ramos, a physical and lateral portent that in the sixties would have delighted fans of fury; as well as Xabi
Alonso as a midfielder accompanying Busquets and the forwards David
town and Fernando
towers, lethal in the best moment of their careers, they formed a group that was hardly repeatable.
Forest, very different in the shapes of a Aragonese excessive, united the group through serenity, a virtue necessary to isolate themselves from the ambient sound that always accompanied the selection. The commitment to the football periphery, which was always distrusted in the more traditional or directly rancid sectors of certain media and plateau power centers, was not easy. He Barca As the main supplier of ideas, he broke schemes that ForestA symbol of the friendliest Real Madrid, he knew how to defend without raising his voice for a single day.
The critical moment came in the first game of the world. Spain fell surprisingly in front of Switzerland and the voices that requested the substitution of Busquets, an essential piece whose sacrifice would have meant ripping substance to the model. Forest He resisted the pressures and sent an internal message to the group and external to the detractors: this is the idea and we will not move from here. From there until the final goal of Iniesta all were victories, accompanied by a different football, which promoted an association of touch players around the ball rarely seen. Capdevila, more than correct left-handed side of that team, always played down the importance of affirming that he gave it to Xavi and there it all began.
The resistance of Forest It was colossal and the response of the players was unique. Coming from different parts of the country, Catalans, Basques, Andalusians, Asturians, Canaries, Madrid residents … all transmitted in their own way an image of modernity that broke with those past ideas that they always associated with Spain with a compact state, indissoluble and allergic to delicacy.