spain football team 2010 images

spain football team
spain football team
spain football team 2010
spain football team 2010
The latter was very much at the forefront of my thoughts during a recent trip to Spain with my wife and her father.

I was keen to see whether the Spanish would be in the midst of the massive deluge of pre-tournament hype we normally get in England and I wanted to know whether they were confident their team would finally throw the monkey off their back.

I tried my luck at a small seaside bar in Galicia. After the barman had told me that Real Madrid would prise Cristiano Ronaldo away from Old Trafford, I asked him about his hopes for the Euros.

The first half of his reply was sort of a grunt crossed with a resigned exhalation, the sort of noise that seemed equal parts contempt and despair.

"Spain? No chance," he said. "Not with that idiot in charge."

There may or may not have been expletives colouring the barman's answer, but the "idiot" in question was Spain coach Jose Luis Aragones.

The coach's decision to omit Raul from his squad was very much headline news and, from what I could gather, it was proving to be a very divisive issue.