United Spanish Team Unites a Nation

JOHANNESBURG -- The city whose club forms the backbone of the Spanish national team, Barcelona, has not hosted a national team game in more than six years. The country's soccer governing body, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol, must not feel very welcome in Spain's second-largest city, where love for king ("Real" signifies his patronage) and country comes second to devotion to the "autonomous region" of Catalonia, its language and its most important of institutions, the Futbol Club Barcelona.



Share Traditionally, Catalans regard La Furia Roja with some mixed emotions. They are Spanish, technically, but the 40 years of oppression they suffered under Francisco Franco came wrapped in the Spanish flag. FC Barcelona was their refuge, and as a result the rivalry between the Blaugrana and Real Madrid, which still represents the central power of the state, is the fiercest in the world.

On Saturday, the day before Spain was to meet the Netherlands in the World Cup final, more than a million people throughout Catalonia demonstrated for greater regional autonomy. A 2006 statute granting enhanced authority to the local parliament was gutted by the Spanish national court, prompting the protest. Agence France Presse reported that one large column of marchers carried a flag saying "We are a nation. We decide ourselves."

In the past, rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona players within the Spanish national team was thought to be one of the reasons the side so frequently underperformed. There is no rivalry this time, and ironically, it is Barça that has contributed the largest number of players to the team that for so long represented the denial of Catalan identity. There is even a Catalonia national team, coached by Dutch and Barcelona legend Johann Cruyff, that plays occasional exhibitions. They beat Argentina, 4-2, last December.

"There are players from all over Spain here in the squad, we are united and I hope the same feeling of unity occurs back in Spain. I think sport does many good things and I hope football could lead to better relations in our country."
-- Vicente Del Bosque
Spain Coach Eight of the 23 players on Spain's World Cup roster are under contract with Barcelona (including striker David Villa, who just signed), compared to six from Madrid. Cesc Fabregas, now at Arsenal, came up through Barcelona's youth system. Among the usual 11 starters, there are six from FCB: Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Pedro Rodríguez and Xavi Hernández. There is no wonder that so many here, including opponents, compare this Spain team to the incredibly skillful Barcelona side that won two straight league championships, the 2009 UEFA Champions League and the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup.

"Spain is largely influenced by Barcelona," Holland coach Bert van Marwijk said.

"This great Spain team clearly comes from the Barça style, Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz said. "Xavi and Iniesta are in charge of the whole show."

Even Puyol's game-winning header against Germany in the semifinals is "a play we do at Barcelona," according to the defender.

Not only does that influence create a more cohesive -- and in this case, skillful -- national side, it serves to help unite an entire nation (except maybe the Basques) behind La Roja. Now Catalans, even those who don't feel too Spanish, can take pride in the 2008 European title and their contributions to the World Cup effort.

José Montilla, the Catalonian president, was quoted as saying that Spanish flags have been a common site during the World Cup. "A lot of people like football, and they identify with La Seleccion because of the large number of players from FC Barcelona," he said.

Spanish and Catalan flags hang side-by-side in Barcelona, Spain one day before the final

Spain's players and coach said here that the unity on this national team, despite the different club and regional affiliations, is a key driver behind the astonishing 49-2-3 run over the past 3.5 years and their place in Sunday's final.

"There are many players from the Barça team and that, of course, makes me very proud," Xavi said. "But it's not only about Barça. We want everyone to feel very proud in the whole of Spain, not only in Catalonia, about the football we are playing."

"There are players from all over Spain here in the squad, we are united and I hope the same feeling of unity occurs back in Spain. I think sport does many good things and I hope football could lead to better relations in our country," said coach Vicente Del Bosque, who led Real Madrid to Champions League titles in 2000 and 2002. "It's a fact that we have players from all of the provinces. It's a union that would of course be desirable for all of the country. If things calmed in Spain and people weren't so radical, we'd have better relations between the states."

It appears to be working. According to Reuters, a Catalan official wrote on his blog that, "There will end up being more Spanish flags because of the Spain-Netherlands match on Sunday than Catalan flags because of Saturday's protest."

Maybe, if Spain managed to lift its World Cup here at Soccer City on Sunday evening, a game in Barcelona won't be too far off.