Today's match marks a potentially momentous opportunity for the Spanish national team to shed their reputation as serial underachievers or, less generously, choke artists. Despite having one of the top domestic leagues in Europe and loads of talent, the Spaniards have only managed to win one major tournament, the European Championship in 1964. Historically it is the quarterfinals where La Furia Roja bow out: only once in the World Cup have they made it to the semifinals, and just twice in the Euros (their title in 1964 and a runners-up finish in 1984). To further the burden, the date June 22nd has been particularly unkind to the Iberians with the team suffering quarterfinal shoot-out defeats on this day to South Korea in the 2002 World Cup, England at Euro 96, and Belgium in the 1986 World Cup. The icing on the fate cake: Spain hasn't beaten Italy in an official match since 1920. Their fellow European chokers, the Dutch, played their part perfectly by laying down for an upstart Russian squad despite having played the most attractive football in the tournament. The Spanish will need to move beyond their national pessimism in all matters futbol and take it to the four time world champions and current title holders Italy if they're to recast the die of their footballing destiny.
2 comments:
Sweet Spain. Not all that convincing - but I'll take the W.
spain says g d
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