PARA ESPAÑA! A toast to the World Cup champions

Voice staffer joins Spaniards in wild celebration following victory

QUINN DAVIS

Editor

VALENCIA, Spain – Michigan fans have nothing on the Spanish.

Sure, Ann Arbor covers herself with Maize and Blue on Saturdays. And yeah, you can hear the roar of the Big House from more than a mile away.

But when Spain played, and eventually won, in the World Cup over the summer, the entire country erupted. Babies were taught to separate the syllables of, “E-spa-ña!” so they could chant along with their family during the game. People who hated soccer—which was virtually no one—now fought for a seat close enough to the TVs in local bars. Car horns were used for celebratory purposes only, flooding the streets after every game to meet with Spanish flags, vuvuzela horns and firecrackers so loud that they would surely be banned in the U.S.

Spanish fans, so to speak, are on another whole playing field. And the differences came to a peak on July 11, the day of the World Cup final.

“Even people that don’t care about football, when it’s his or her country playing, they support it,” said Luis Moreira, 23, from Portugal. “It’s kind of like the greatest sport mixed with a patriotic spirit for your country. It’s a way to differentiate yourself from the rest of the world. To win a World Cup, it’s something special, definitely.”

Moreira works in this Spanish tourist mecca as a hotel concierge. He was just as excited as his Spanish friends were about the World Cup, but underneath it all, he was rooting for the Dutch team.

“I didn’t vibrate as much as (the Spanish) because, well, actually I wanted them to lose because they eliminated Portugal. So I was kind of frustrated about that,” he said.

Though Moreira had to work the night of the game, he knew who won immediately; the noise from outside permeated the walls of the hotel lobby. Some said that even the dead knew Spain had won; the ground shook with the noise and fierce of the celebrations.

For those alive and outside in Valencia, the air shook too. The decibels grew steadily, starting hours before the Word Cup final. The only people in the streets without red clothes, faces or scarves on usually weren’t Spanish.

Street-side vendors continued selling Spanish flags and vuvuzela horns throughout the game. While traffic died down just before the kickoff, the noise did not. The rumble was steady, like a pot on a low boil. And every so often, maybe when Iker Casillas made that impossible save or when the referee handed out the first of his 14 yellow cards, the rumble turned into a skillet of hot oil.

This game, and the ones leading up to it, were a welcome distraction for the Spanish. The country’s economy has suffered alongside the U.S.’s, hitting unemployment rates of 20 percent in April.

“The newspaper, the news, all they talk about the World Cup. They don’t talk about all the problems. It’s like, for that moment, in this month, people forget about everything else,” said Moreira.

The final celebrations started before the game ended, but it wasn’t until the game was over and the score was secured that anyone could pull themselves away from the screens. Some enjoyed the complimentary champagne passed out at restaurants, pouring the bubbles down their throats following toasts of, “Para España!”

Tens of thousands took to the streets to celebrate with the crowds. The crowds were unlike anything Ann Arbor has seen; the limited light available was filtered through red flags, turning everyone into a giant sunburn. Chants rose and dispersed, the most popular being, “Yo soy Español!” meaning “I am Spanish.”

A few brave Dutch men and women strolled through the crazy, country-wide party, but instead of reproach, they were greeted with respect. Many Spaniards noted the World Cup final as an extremely aggressive game on the part of the Dutch, yet here they were, applauding and even bowing to their rivals.

Imagine UM fans treating a few stray Buckeyes the same way after an equally aggressive (American) football game. It’s unthinkable.

Moreira granted the Spanish team this same respect, even though he wanted them to lose. Besides, in four years, Portugal will have a chance to be vindicated.
“They won. They are the best. What can I say,” he shrugged.

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