Qatar 2022: The story of how Spain became 2010 World Cup winners

In partnership with

GiveMeSport

·6 November 2022

Qatar 2022: The story of how Spain became 2010 World Cup winners

For a long time, Spain were regarded as football’s biggest underachievers. For a nation that had the team with the most European Cup winners of all time, and had produced world-class stars that had gone on to become some of the game’s greatest, they hadn’t come close to winning the game’s ultimate prize: the World Cup.

When 2010 came around, they planned on changing it, and they couldn’t do it then, one could wonder if they could ever do it at all. The stars had aligned.

OneFootball Videos

In the years prior to the World Cup, Spain and their starring names enjoyed plenty of success. At the 2006 World Cup, they exited the tournament at the quarter-final stage, but following that, they won Euro 2008 with a squad filled with technicians and talent.

Led by the legendary Luis Aragones, they went all the way, beating Germany in the final in Vienna, with Fernando Torres scoring the winner, giving them their first international trophy since 1964.

Aragones left his role in 2008 and was replaced by Vicente del Bosque, who had a strong reputation having won two Champions League titles with Real Madrid in the past, but there were doubts given that he had spent recent years managing Besiktas in Turkey. A year after, he was helped by Barcelona and Pep Guardiola’s wonderful team that won the treble, enhancing stars like Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets.

Spain had problems before the 2010 World Cup

Going into the 2010 World Cup cycle, however, there were two problems for Del Bosque to combat. They were impressive in qualifying for the tournament, but at the Confederations Cup in 2009 – the curtain-raiser for the World Cup – they were sloppy, losing to the United States in the semi-final of the tournament and raising doubts whether they could go all the way in a year later.

Winning the Euros was one thing, but the World Cup was another beast altogether, and for a country that had traditionally underachieved at this competition, fears rose.

The second problem he faced was the form, fitness and most importantly, mental health, of star man Iniesta. In the year before the World Cup, Iniesta’s close friend Dani Jarque, the Espanyol player, died after a heart attack. By his own admission, this affected Iniesta greatly and he suffered for weeks after it. Then, Iniesta had injury issues just before the tournament, and although he had a fine season with Barcelona, there were questions over his status at the World Cup.

Del Bosque remained calm under pressure

When the finals came around, Del Bosque remained calm – as he always had. Throughout his career as a manager, he always maintained a composed demeanor, regardless of problems around him or the situation he was in. He kept that for the World Cup. Drawn in their group alongside Switzerland, Chile and Honduras, they liked their chances, but they started with a major blow: a 1-0 defeat to the fellow European side to open their campaign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxiBdX5F2I8

Del Bosque was criticised for playing Iniesta, and for a country that was historically fragile at the World Cup when things went rough, many had already written Spain off. Things had to pick up for Spain in the remaining two group games if they were to qualify and when they faced Honduras in the next round, they did just that.

David Villa, who had starred for Valencia over the years and was tipped to be Spain’s talisman during the World Cup, netted a double to kick-off La Roja’s tournament in South Africa.

In the final group game against Chile, it was Villa that opened the scoring once again and Iniesta, who was getting in better shape who added the second. Even a Chilean goal in the second half didn’t trouble Spain as they held on for top spot in the group. The Spanish were through, and waiting for them in the Round of 16 were their Iberian rivals Portugal, who were having some troubles of their own that summer.

From there, the tone for Spain was quite simple: control and panache. Their passing style could often be seen as boring, but for the opposition, it was exhausting. Portugal felt that, as they fell to a 1-0 defeat, with Villa once again scoring the winner in the second half. The same was maintained against Paraguay in the quarter-final, with Villa netting again. This game required heroics from Casillas, who saved a penalty before Spain scored their winner.

How Spain reached – and then won – the 2010 World Cup final

Germany awaited them in the semi-final, and this was their biggest test of the competition. A repeat of the European Championships final from two years ago and a well-drilled German side under Joachim Low who looked like tournament hopefuls. Once again, this was tense, and it took another of Spain’s leaders to get them over the line – Carles Puyol scored a stunning header from a corner late in the second half and Spain held on for the win, taking them to their first-ever World Cup final.

They would face the Dutch there, who had been to the final twice before in the 1970s, but they too were looking for their first-ever World Cup win. It could be said that these were football’s two biggest underachievers, and they would compete for the sport’s biggest prize. The Dutch, for this final, dropped their traditional style for a more physical approach. Fouls were plenty – Nigel de Jong’s karate kick on Xabi Alonso made a famous picture.

In this game of moments, Casillas had his with a mega save from Arjen Robben’s one-on-one effort, John Heitinga was sent off as his persistent fouling caught up to him, and in the end, Iniesta, the man who many asked questions of, scoring the winner. He shrewdly finished Cesc Fabregas’ pass, and ran off in celebration, taking his shirt off to share a tribute for Jarque, his late friend. They held on, and in the end, became world champions. After years of heartbreak, in the space of two years, Spain had won international football’s two biggest titles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKSHgMqCwbQ

Del Bosque later spoke about the final to the Financial Times, revealing that he wanted his players to treat the game like any other, and that they needed to show the same love for the sport as they did when they were children: “On the day of the final I spoke to the players. I told them to think of themselves as the romantics of football facing the most important game of their lives. I was appealing to the romanticism that I think a lot of us carry within us from childhood. However much you professionalise football, however much money is involved, the important thing is to defend the nobility of football. I told them we aren’t soldiers. We are not here to pick a fight. We are players, talented young people. We can play good football and achieve something collectively.”

More than anything, the win for Spain represented unity. In a country that had various political and societal issues in the past, where people were divided by tribalism and that reflected in football, Del Bosque and Spain relied on togetherness.

To South Africa, Del Bosque took a team of seven Catalans, six Castilians, three Basques, three Andalusians, two Canary Islanders and one Asturian and Valencian, and brought home the World Cup. At the celebrations after they returned home, chants of ‘Somos Español, Español, Español!’ were heard throughout the country.

This was a win that represented so much, and meant so much, beyond just football.