We Need To Talk More About Spain 2008 - 2012

Spain's Golden Generation:1.
Through the course of their international exploits in the twentieth century, the Spanish national team had always been labelled as underachievers.
This was until the Spaniards developed their own brand of football - tiki taka.
A mentality centred on holding the ball and having their opponents chase them around all game.
Let's have a look at how Spain rose to become the greatest team in the world and eventually becoming world champions.7.
The appointment of Luis Aragones in 2004 marked Spain's beginning of transitioning into a footballing behemoth.
Luis adopted the tiki-taka style to lead Spain to victory in the 2008 Euros, their first major title in 44 years.
When the squad was announced, it was mostly made up of Barcelona and Real Madrid players, and there was a lot of excitement in the air since everyone in Spain anticipated their team to win the World Cup.
They put Poland to bed with a 6-0 victory in their last warm-up game and looked like the side to beat coming into the opening game of the World Cup.16.
Vicente was cautious and claimed that his players must be humble in order for Spain to win their games.
Almost ironically, Spain would lose their first game 1-0 to Switzerland , despite not doing much wrong .
Spain missed the finishing touch required to win their first World Cup game and now faced Honduras in the following encounter, which would determine their destiny.
Spain's last group stage encounter was either all or nothing; a victory would ensure qualification, while a defeat would mean an early return home.
They faced Chile, a well-oiled machine led by Marcelo Bielsa.
Chile got one back, but it was in vain as Spain won 2-1.20.
The Round of 16 encounter against Portugal meant that one of the giants would go home empty-handed.
21.
David Villa found himself on the scoreboard once again, this time beyond the hour mark, when he blasted in the game's lone goal.
Spain triumphed 1-0 to go to the quarterfinals.22.
The quarter-final encounter was against Paraguay, after the usual big names France, Italy, England, Argentina, and Brazil had all been knocked out in the previous round.
Both teams missed penalties as David Villa came to Spain's rescue again again, scoring the lone goal of the game as Spain advanced to the Semis with a 1-0 triumph.24.
The draw versus Germany meant a rematch of the 2008 Euro finals; the Germans were the ideal opponent for the Spaniards since the game was evenly fought.
Carles Puyol, would head home the game's only goal, giving La Roja a ticket to the finals as they triumphed 1-0 and advanced to their first world cup final.
The Final between the Netherlands and Spain was noted for its ferocity, lost chances, flying challenges, and 14 cards in the game ...(13 yellow and 1 red).
The game went into extra time as both teams missed great scoring chances.
The goalkeeping heroics of Iker Casillas can be still remembered to this day as he almost single-handedly kept Spain in the tie, pulling save after save to ensure his clean sheet.
Finally, a pass from Cesc Fabregas would find Iniesta in the open and Iniesta would volley home to bring the world cup to Spanish soil for the first time ever.28.
It is impressive to note that the final four matches of Spain's world cup run all ended with the same scoreline (1-0), which is as much an ode to their rock solid defence as it is to their ability to keep the ball moving amongst themselves.
The World Cup in South Africa was famous for many things, including being the first world cup to be hosted in Africa, the vuvuzelas, and the beautiful sights of the country, but that is nothing compared to the fame and repute that the Spanish received.
The philosophy of tiki-taka, brought together by an ideology that began long before the World Cup, assisted the Spanish in bringing the World Cup home and cementing the mark of Spain's golden generation in history.

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