Of La Roja’s victory over Italy in the final of Euro 2012, much has been written already and having not kept silent myself during the tournament (blogs, twitters, articles, interviews) I would like to simply conclude my coverage with a few points of my own.
La Roja is much more than a football achievement. It is a political, social and cultural phenomenon which Spaniards should recognise and take pride in.
A country that has suffered the humiliation of being reduced to being one of the beggars of the Euro crisis, and surrendering its sovereignty to the markets and Berlin, has produced something which in its excellence leaves all other countries in shadow.
Let us set aside once and for ever the flippant, ill-informed comments of those who criticised the Spanish team as ‘boring’, suggested players like Xavi and Iniesta were past their well-by date, and predicted that Germany, or Portugal, or Italy would bring to an end this transitory era of Spanish conquest.
La Roja on Sunday simply showed what it can do best, and that is better than anybody else in the globe, past or present, endure and prevail with a collective effort of sublime quality, beating Italy that in turn had crushed Germany. Let us not forget that the Brazil of Pele ran out of steam after four years, and even Guardiola’s Barca buckled before Mourinho’s Real Madrid and a Chelsea with Mourinho’s imprint written all over it.
If La Roja boosted TV viewers around the world, and generated more following among Spaniards than any previous national team, it is because this is part of an ongoing story of evolution that began in the 1970’s with the alchemy produced between Dutch and Spanish players following the arrival of Johan Cruyff, at a time when the years of Franco and La Furia were drawing to an end.
Spanish football was transformed into an art form just as Spain buried its dictator. But La Roja has today taken players to another level where they have become a model of what Spain can still become. A wise-man from Salamanca- conciliatory, but clear-headed-has forged Spaniards from all regions and from two of the biggest rival clubs in the world, into a cohesive yet ever-creative unit, an example to the world, where each player plays not for himself but for the other, one for all, all for one. The future is written in la Roja.
On Sunday night, as the players celebrated their victory, we got a glimpse of players and fans at peace with themselves-tolerant in their celebration, united in self-belief that went beyond partisan interest. I am thinking here of two Barca players placing a Catalan flag by the trophy, of a Real Madrid player from Andalucía showing off his bullfighting passes, and a tall blond Spanish export who plays for Chelsea and has been saved from the narcissism of Beckham and Ronaldo, showing off his two small children in red, like any proud dad, like one more Spanish fan. From here on, Spaniards should expect better things from its politicians or else suggest that Vicente Del Bosque become prime-minister.
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