Spanish inquisition is about to begin
SAO PAULO — There is, naturally, much painful navel-gazing going on throughout Spain, and that will continue on unabated for a while as the country comes to grips with the events of Wednesday at Rio’s Maracana Stadium.
The cover image of Thursday’s Marca told the tale brilliantly: Midfielder Andres Iniesta, alone and small in the middle of the frame, back to the camera, walking away, with the headline The End.
“Spain,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho opined, “were predictable, slow and sad.”
In the wake of his side’s ouster from the World Cup, midfielder Xabi Alonso offered some stark, realistic comments on the downfall.
“It is a very unexpected failure,” Alonso told reporters.
“We did not expect this, but these things happen in sport. We did not know how to maintain the hunger, the conviction, the ambition to go for the tournament.
“Our quota of joy and success had been used up, emptied.
“We made a lot of footballing errors. We lost the know-how, the solidity which had won us so many games.
“The feeling was not like that of other championships. We were not mentally or physically ready. Putting everything together, we were not in the best shape. We were not up to it, and we deserve to be out.”
La Rioja were humbled 2-0 by Chile which, coupled with a 5-1 mauling by the Netherlands in their opener, stopped an amazing major tournament win string at three. Everyone agrees the moment has finally arrived to refresh a tired, stale side.
“I believe things are going to change,” Alonso agreed.
“Normally cycles end with a defeat, and this has been a very painful defeat. For sure, things are going to change.”
Cheeky
The biggest Italy fans in Brazil on Friday will be English.
With the 2-1 loss to Uruguay on Thursday at Sao Paulo, the Three Lions need the Azzurri to win both their games and beat Costa Rica by a requisite number of goals to go through to the knockout phase. A long-shot? Definitely. But that didn’t stop Italian star Mario Balotelli from going on posting a cheeky tweet. “If we beat Costa Rica I want a kiss, obviously on the cheek, from the UK Queen.”
note s
The Guardian reports that Caipirinha-flavoured World Cup condoms are all the rage here (Caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail, made with cachaca — sugar cane hard liquor — sugar and lime). The prophylactics are — what else? — coloured green and yellow, cost just under the equivalent of a toonie for a pack of three and are manufactured by Karex. … Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant is a huge soccer fan, so rather than stay in the United States for the NBA Finals, he flew here to to watch World Cup matches. “It’s not easy to face Brazil in their own country,” he was quoted as saying in AS. “I’d like to see a final with both Brazil and Argentina in it. Germany also seem very strong this year and a really hard opponent to beat” … U.S. striker Jozy Altidore will miss Sunday’s match against Portugal due to a hamstring pull … Croatia forward Ivica Olic played Wednesday’s Cameroon match — and scored — after receiving painkilling injections in a foot after stepping on broken glass in the bathroom at the team hotel.