Today has been one of those days where my social periscope has been down for most of the day. Meetings galore at work, on the one hand, and an intense heat wave hitting the Canary Islands at the moment, on the other hand, haven’t made things too easy for me so far in the external social networking spaces, so I decided that, for today’s blog post, I’m actually going to do a little bit of light blogging and reflect about something that doesn’t have much to do with the usual topics that I get to talk about over here and, instead, I am just going to spend a few minutes remembering and rejoicing around one of those magical moments in someone’s lifetime that one gets to enjoy from something, an unforgettable event, that took place a month and a day ago, exactly, and which still lingers around in our collective memory. At least, that one from a whole bunch of us. Witnessing the historical moment of Spain winning the World Cup Final for the first time!
Yes, that’s right! Today is exactly one month and one day since Spain beat The Netherlands in the World Cup Final 1-0 and, when one comes to think about it, it sounds like it all happened a few years back already! And yet, it’s just 4 weeks ago since it happened! So, still we have got another 4 years to enjoy, and savour, these moments of a unique experience that I am sure is going to be quite difficult to repeat. But, still, what an experience, don’t you think?
I am not much of a football fan myself (Have always been a basketball guy! hehe), but one cannot deny the tremendous sense of pride, and happiness, that one gets just remembering that evening on July 11th 2010 when my home country decided to surprise the world and become the world champion far far away from their homeland, doing what they do best: play football! I still get the shivers whenever I bump into an online video that shows and describes the tragedy and drama of scoring the winning goal in the last few minutes of the overtime (Thanks again, Iniesta!) when you knew that we were just this close from going into penalties to decide who was going to be the next champion. That surely would have been unbearable and rather difficult to watch!
As if we didn’t have enough suspense already, right? I mean, I have been waiting for nearly 40 years for something like this to happen. And when you just experience it, you just basically can’t believe that it is happening altogether! Do you know what I mean? It all still looks like it was all just a wonderful dream! One that you get to play on the playstation or something! And yet, it’s true. It happened. Spain eventually became the world champions of something that we have been pursuing for decades already! Well, not anymore. That’s it! We are now done! We finally got that wonderfully delightful little star on our camiseta roja (red shirt) showing all of that furia we have been accumulating over the course of the years. Now it’s our turn to remember and treasure the moment and enjoy that sense of pride every so often. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Which is why I would like to ask you folks to bear with me on this blog post I’m putting together today, since I realise that it doesn’t have anything to do with the usual topics I have been blogging about all along. But I guess you would have to excuse for this one time to just go, select one of the many many video clips on this topic, watch it, get immersed on that sense of pride, content and happiness once more and share it across with you folks, so that you can have a taster of the kind of emotions that we went through on that evening and which lasted for a few days more! For some of us, it’s still there; rather intense and profound, specially experiencing how such tremendous outcome can definitely influence and change the way a country comes together as a single voice celebrating what promises to be something that we would be sharing with happy smiley faces with our great-great-grandchildren as one of those littles moments in life where we sit back and ponder: Yes, I saw it. I was there. In spirit. But I was there. From across the globe, realising that such wonderful victory will always remain deep in our hearts with that warm and fuzzy feeling one cannot neglect, but embrace and enjoy!
Yes, we are still world champions! It’s hard to believe, for sure. But yes, we are still remembering as it was just yesterday. And that will be like that for many many moons to come. Whether that team manages to win more matches and the odd championship here and there or lose some altogether, there is nothing that will take away what they have already given us a month and a day ago: Yes, The Spaniards Finally Did It!
La Selección Española, Campeona del Mundo Sudáfrica 2010 (Resumen) from J. R. Ferrero on Vimeo.
Thanks for that! You shall not be forgotten … Ever.
(Don’t worry, folks; I am not going anywhere; regular blogging will resume tomorrow, once again! I just needed this nice and lovely break on a rather intense day :-D)
Tags: World Cup, #worldcup, South Africa, Championship, Football, Soccer, Final, Spain, Netherlands, Campeones, History, Celebrations, FIFA, UEFA, Tiki-taka, Europe Cup Final, 2010, 2008, España, Orgullo, Pride, Leadership, Dream, Dream Come True, Special Moments, Things That Matter, The Smallest Things, Life, Remembering, Treasuring the Moments, Remembrance, Stories, My Stories
Absolutely understand and my familiarity with soccer/football is based primarily on my two kids having grown up with it her in the States. Still, I remember the time in 2005 when on a visit to Barcelona my family and I found ourselves surrounded in the Plaza de Catalunya by the Barcelona team returning in triumph from Madrid having won the national championships. Absolute pandemonium amongst thousands of happy people! And when my son and I watched the World Cup a few weeks ago he kept pointing out team members he recognized from that day and their triumphal circumnavigation of the park. Too bad we have to wait so many years for another chance like this!
The best team won Luis. And glad to say I was at the final to see Spain do it!
Congrats again, Luis. The best team won! It was great playing you in the Finals.
Wonderful post!!!!
I really enjoyed very much this world cup, not because of my home team (Argentina) but because Uruguay! my partner is from there, so my heart turned absolutely “celeste” (blue sky)
I was conquered by “la garra charrúa” (Charrúan claws) and every match was unforgettable.
And in the final match, we suffered a lot because of the Spanish players were so beaten, and that’s why we were so happy with Iniesta and his wonderful goal!!!
I share some links:
(in english, spanis and portuguese)
What FIFA World Cup 2010 teaches us about Project Management?
http://iromin.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/what-fifa-world-cup-2010-teaches-us-about-project-management/
Uruguay y la garra charrua
http://www.elacontecer.com.uy/contratapa/588-desde-peru-y-desde-brasil-asi-vieron-la-participacion-celeste-en-el-mundial.html
Spain:
A vitória do futebol e da vida
http://zeguto.blogspot.com/2010/07/vitoria-do-futebol-e-da-vida.html
Vero