Football in Spain


The situation of soccer in Spain is unfair at least, since a team that always had great support, excellent players and conditions, never managed to win a World Cup medal (their best performance being a fourth place in 1950) and only won the European Championship once.
But since soccer is not always just about trophies, I decided to make a section about soccer in Spain, as it is one of the most powerful nations in this sport, especially at club level where the Primera Division is one of (if not THE) best championships in Europe and the World. I’m going to show you around this section and give you some previews on what you can find on it, so far:
Spanish Football Team
The Spanish national soccer team is surrounded by paradoxes. Ever since the 50s or so, it has always been considered one of the tournament favorites, regardless of what World Cup or European Championship edition it played in. However, it never really managed to make use of this status.
In addition, they rarely had “mediocre” performances at final tournaments. They either failed to qualify in a poor display, or they shone out through qualifications and managed to get at least to the quarter finals.
Actually, the quarter final stage seems to be e sort of mental block for the Spanish soccer team. They managed to reach the quarter finals in 5 World Cups, but only once going through. In addition, they had another 7 quarter finals in different European Championship editions from 10 participations, but only managed to pass this stage twice, each time reaching the final (winning it in front of the USSR in 1964 and losing it to France in 1984).

Famous Spanish Soccer Players
If there’s one “resource” the Spanish soccer team never could whine about, it’s talented soccer players. Players like Luis Suarez, Zarra or DiStefano (who had Argentinean origins though) took the first steps to projecting Spanish soccer as one of the most powerful in the World.
They were followed by European Championship winners like Amancio, Jesus Pereda or Marcelino Martinez, who finally added a trophy to Spain agenda. Finally, modern soccer proved that Spain is still a good place for great soccer players to grow in, as players like Raul, Fernando Hierro, Emilio Butragueno or Luis Enrique emerged on the international scene from the Iberian country.
It’s the last four that I’ll be covering in the “Famous Spanish soccer players” article, as they are idols of the current generation and they left a serious mark wherever they played, club or national side.
With Raul being the only one of the four that’s still playing actively, Spanish fans are expecting him to lead their national side in their first World Cup win, in 2010, which is probably Raul’s last chance to shine on national level, not only for his club, Real Madrid.

1 comments:

erdeaka said...

it seems that you posted some sorts of serious football articles, and also the results...hmm...it's good for adding football knowledge, but...i think you should try posting more interesting, funny, and critical football articles....

thanks...

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