What do people think of when they think of Spain?

There is a reason I put all those pictures in that order.  After all that delicious food,  you’re going to need a siesta.

Spain is the land of my ancestors.  Many of you know I was born in México but many of you that have met me in person also know that I look white.  Well,  now you know why.  The parents of my grandparents on both sides of my family were born in Spain.  As far as I know,  some in Galicia and some in the Basque country.  Which brings me to my next point about the country:  It’s not so much a country as a mini-European Union with the regional hatred still simmering nicely from the Spanish Civil War. As was the case during the Civil War, the Basques, Catalans, and Galicians have been, for a while, on the side of full independence from Spain while the rest of the country is happy united as one.  Catalonia is actively working on independence.  The Basques are following their lead after seeing that terrorism doesn’t work.

This has translated to the soccer field (this is a soccer preview, of course) with the intense rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Franco, the fascist dictator that ruled Spain after the Civil War was over, loved Real Madrid and bestowed onto the club all the possible advantages it could get. Which greatly pissed him off and made the rest of the country happy when Barcelona’s team would occasionally beat them.  This, for almost all of Spain’s sporting history, resulted in a divided national soccer team that traditionally had plenty of talent but could never achieve anything.

This all changed with the rise of Barcelona as a European soccer power in 2004 when Dutchman and former Barcelona player (Barcelona has a long history with Dutch players/coaches) Frank Rijkaard took over the reigns.  In the buildup to Euro 2008, the team started to become dominated by Barcelona players and players from other teams with Iker Casillas being the most notable and constant Real player.  The team also adopted the Barcelona style of play (unimaginatively called tiki-taka for its emphasis on short quick passes and maintaining possession).   This resulted in an unprecedented run of success that was only interrupted by the poor showing at the 2014 World Cup.

In 2008, Spain won the Euro.

In 2010, Spain won the World Cup.

In 2012, Spain won the Euro again.

So, what’s in store for this year?  Well, for one thing, Spain will have some tired players.  Real Madrid just won the Champions League, Barcelona won the league and the Copa Del Rey, and Sevilla won the Europa League.  All of those tournaments had vital decisive games in May.  Here is the squad:

The talent, the experience, and the will to win is there.  The big question is whether everyone will be healthy and in the best of shape to take up the challenge.

The group match schedule is as follows:

21 June 2016

17 June 2016

13 June 2016

EURO 2016 Forecast:  This is one tough group.  Each team is capable of beating the other teams.  Honestly, it’s a crapshoot.  If Spain can get out of the group, it will have a good chance of winning the whole thing.  It just has to get out of the group.  Something it couldn’t do in 2014 with a squad that was similarly depleted on the health front due to club successes and age.  This year’s team is younger for sure, but can they recapture the magic of the last twelve years?  I say yes.

Fun Fact that I did know but that you may not know: Much like the rest of Europe, the various regions of Spain have their own languages.  Catalan, Basque, Galician are officially recognized while others, such as Valencian (a variant of Catalan) are unofficial yet widely spoken in their respective regions.  BONUS FUN FACT:  Basque is a language isolate, which means it has no demonstrable genealogical relationship to other languages. It is its own language family. BONUS FUN FACT TWO:  There is a large Basque community in Idaho. Something about silver.

Enjoy the games!