It’s a scenario that the Spanish national team has never experienced before. It is an opportunity of a life time. Can La Furia Roja win their first ever semifinal match? By the end of today we will know the answer to this question.
As I’ve stated before the Spanish national team is experiencing a summer of firsts this World Cup. It is there first ever semifinals appearance in the first ever African hosted World Cup. Also La Furia Roja hope to be the first ever World Cup champions following a debut loss in the first round. In other words if Spain were to win today it would be the first of many statistics.
Their opponent of Germany has hardly any firsts in the World Cup and historically is one of the few dominant teams. In fact the Germans have only failed to advance past the second round one time in the last forty years and the powerhouse side has only missed one penalty kick over that span as well. They have rolled over several of the projected best (England and Argentina) and perhaps no other team has looked as strong as the Germans or as much like a complete team.
History would point to the Germans to win and their current form is hard to argue against. One critical loss the side will have to endure is Muller who was wrongfully given a yellow card on a petty handball last match and is forced to miss the semifinals due to receiving two cards. The loss is a big one for Germany considering the young twenty year old has scored and set up so many goals in the last few weeks.
But today will not be about any one man. Instead it will be about the fate of two teams and two nations.
And that’s why the World Cup is the best event in sports.
photo credit: Alfonso Jiménez
