Category: Spain

First there was the Spanish football team winning Euro 08.

Then there was Rafa Nadal winning Wimbledon.

And now, Carlos Sastre has made it a hat trick of Spanish wins, riding into Paris as winner of this year’s Tour de France.After my post on Saturday re my dilemna, I did feel rather sorry for Cadel Evans who lost out to a Spaniard in the time trial last year too (Alberto Contador who was unable to defend his title as his team Astana were not invited in the wake of Vinokourov-gate last year) but he was simply too tired I think to pull it out of the bag.

However, I must admit that I was secretly really pleased to see Sastre triumph as he rode out of his skin in the time trial. Not simply because he’s Spanish and from one of my favourite towns (Avila), but because he was SO humble about it all. At every opportunity he praised his team who supported him so well throughout – and they deserved it too.

Without the Schleck brothers, Stuart O’Grady, Fabian Cancellara, Jens Voigt (who lost his saddle somewhere on the Champs d’Elysees!) Kurt Asle-Aversen, Nicky Sorensen and Volodymir Gustov, Sastre would have been as isolated and tired as Cadel Evans.

He dedicated his win to his brother-in-law, José María Jiménez, who was also a professional cyclist who died in 2004. As Sastre said ‘su derrota era querer ganar esta carrera’ so it made his win all the sweeter for him and his wife, Piedi, Jiménez’s sister.

So here’s to Carlos Sastre – ¡muy bien hecho!

Although Fernando Alonso let the side down, Spain are at it again, winning!

On Saturday, Alejandro Valverde opened the Tour de France with a win on Stage one from Brest to Plumelec.

And then on Sunday, Rafael Nadal finally conquered Roger Federer on grass at Wimbledon after a roller coaster of a game. Without the good old English weather, Rafa would have won in straight sets, and saved much nailbiting, but we’d have missed an epic tussle between two incredible tennis players.
And to cap it all, he became the first player to ever climb into the Royal Box!!

Not sure how Rafa’d feel about the assertion that he’s ‘ante todo, español’ as a proud Mallorquí, but all of Spain is proud of him!

Miss the match last night? Here are the highlights, complete with commentary in Spanish, footage of the crowd in Vienna and in Madrid, and shots of the Royal Box.

According to the Euro 08 blog, Spain have been reported to be using voodoo in their pursuit of that elusive championship win.

Originally reported in Russia Today (bit suspicious that, eh?),

Someone in Spain has been making and selling football player voodoo dolls, which come with a pack of flags. La Furia Roja fans can simply fix the flag of whoever Spain are playing onto the doll, and write a name and number on the back, then perform some amateur voodoo on whichever player they want.

The article seeks to give credence to this by citing the example of Luca toni who spent the quarter final inexplicably rolling around in pain, and suggests that..

.. if you see a certain Russian playmaker inexplicably holding his sides in agony or his legs doing things he clearly doesn’t intend tomorrow, you’ll know it’s due to an army of Spain fans poking a “10 Arshavin” doll with sharp sticks.

To be honest, I think the dolls are quite cute and remind me of Cobi, the Barcelona 1992 mascot. And if Spain win, well…..

I’m finally sat in my lounge, clad in my Spain shirt with a glass of wine in hand watching the big match. When José Picardo enquired via Twitter ¿estás lista? whilst I was at music group practice, I tweeted in response that ‘La Furia Roja marcha adelante‘.

As José pointed out for me, tonight it’s La Furia Amarilla. Doesn’t sound as scary I’m afraid. And what’s more, I predicted that the best team would win – and they’d be wearing red when my mate Nick (who supports Russia) asked me yesterday.

Oh dear!

Let’s hope that’s the end of my woes for the night!

STOP PRESS – Xavi has just scored!!!!

In advance of this evening’s main event (sorry boys, there’s something more important than the ETR flashmeeting this week!) I’d like you to watch the following videos, consider their message and then ….

¡Hazte de la peña de la Selección!

And in case you haven’t got the message yet as you can’t speak Spanish, here it is in English!

And, as José reports, you can capture the programmes in RealPlayer for use in the classroom. Great news I say.

And for those of you who are not in the least bit interested in football, but watch for the ‘aesthetic appeal’…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr9R_XosGgw&hl=en]

Who’s your favourite?

I know that Euro08 actually kicked off last Saturday, but for me, it all starts tonight when Spain take on Russia. As the only house in the street displaying a flag in the window (how different from previous football tournaments – and a little sad!, you can’t miss my allegiances. At least without England, I have the loyalties of my children too. Well, half of the eldest’s as he is rather fond of Cristiano Ronaldo. Husband is supporting Turkey – less said about that the better.

So in honour of the kick off at 5pm, and to get you in the mood ….. ;o)

To help you recognise the some of the players (I don’t think Raúl is quite past it yet though!)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZjPqfE3wbA&hl=en]