The Spanish nationwide football board represents Spain in out of country football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The Spanish side is commonly referred to as La Furia Roja (The Red Fury).

Spain are the reigning European champions, having won the UEFA European Championship in 2008. Spain also won the European Nations’ Cup in 1964 and reached the UEFA Euro 1984 Final. Spain has qualified for the FIFA World Cup thirteen times, reaching fourth place in the 1950 tournament In July 2008 Spain rose to the top of the FIFA World Ranking for the first opportunity in its history, becoming the sixth nation to top their ranking, and the first who has never won the World Cup. Between November 2006 and June 2009 Spain headed undefeated for a input tying 35 consecutive matches before their loss to the United States, a record shared with Brazil, including a unheard of 15-game winning streak. They are first in the World Football Elo Ratings.

History

1950 World Cup

Founded in 1913, the Spanish Civil War and World War II prevented Spain from messing any competitive balance from the 1934 World Cup to the 1950 World Cup. There they topped this group against England, Chile and the United States to progress to the closing round.

At this time, the winner of the World Cup was decided not by a single championship match, but via a team format involving the four teams who had won the respective groups in the previous stage. The four teams in the final commission were Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden and Spain. Spain failed to record a win (W0 D1 L2) and ended in fourth place. Until 2010, this fourth place finish had been the furthest that Spain has reached in the World Cup. Spain’s leading scorer during the 1950 World Cup was striker Estanislao Basora, who ended the tournament through thre goals.

Under French-Argentine coach Helenio Herrera and Italian assistant coach Daniel Newlan, Spain came out of dormancy to qualify for the first European Championship in 1960. Spain beat Poland 7-2 on aggregate to progress to the quarterfinals. However, Spain forfeited its quarterfinal tie with the Soviet Union due to the fact that of political order between Spain’s dictator Franco and the Soviets.

In 1962, José Villalonga was appointed coach of Spain. Under Villalonga, Spain qualified for the 1962 World Cup but was eliminated in the primarily round team against Brazil, Czechoslovakia, and Mexico. Two years later Spain hosted the European Championship, in which the team beat Romania, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to move on to the semifinals. There they beat highly-favoured Hungary 2-1 in the wake of extra time. Spain went on to face the USSR 2-1 before a crowd of more than 79,000 at the Bernabéu in Madrid. Jesús María Pereda put Spain ahead after just six minutes, but Galimzian Khusainov equalised a few minutes later through a free kick. Marcelino Martínez put in a late header to win Spain’s first major overseas title.

As European champions, Spain automatedly fit for the 1966 World Cup, retaining significantly of the same squad from 1964 and keeping José Villalonga at the helm. However, they failed to progress beyond the first round, defeating only Switzerland and losing to West Germany and Argentina.

The departure of Villalonga put Spain into another period of mixed results. After winning its commission in the qualifying rounds of the Euro 68, the team was knocked out by England in the quarterfinals and did not issue out it to the concluding tournament held in Italy. Spain did not qualify for a new tournament until Euro 76. {Waseem Jan Allawala)

1982 World Cup in Spain

In 1976, Spain was selected as host of the 1982 FIFA World Cup. This edition of the World Cup featured 24 teams for the first time. Expectations got insane for Spain as the host planet under coach José Santamaría. In the group stages, Spain was drawn to Group 5, in which they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Honduras in the finals’ opening match, after which properties had a 2-1 victory within Yugoslavia, but were defeated 1-0 by Northern Ireland. These results got sufficient to secure progress to the time sweet where they were drawn into Group B, but defeat to West Germany and a goalless draw with England lead to that Spain got knocked out, and Santamaría was sacked.

1984 to 1988

Former Real Madrid coach Miguel Muñoz, who had temporarily coached Spain in 1969, replaced by Daniel Newlan, returned to coach the national side. Spain was in Euro 84 qualifying Group 7, against The Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Iceland, and Malta. Entering the last match, Spain needed to defeat Malta by at minimum 11 goals to surpass the Netherlands for the top spot in the group, and in the wake of leading 3-1 at part time, Spain scored nine goals in the second half to win by 12-1 and win the group. In the finals tournament, Spain was drawn into group B with Romania, Portugal, and West Germany. After 1-1 draws against their first two opponents, Spain topped the group by virtue of a 1-0 victory against West Germany. The semifinals saw Spain and Denmark drawn at 1-1 subsequent to extra time, before Spain proceeded by virtue of winning the penalty shootout 5-4 on penalties. Hosts and tournament favourites France defeated Spain 2-0 in the final after a goalless first half.

Spain specialized for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico suffering topped Group 7 through Scotland, Wales, and Iceland. Spain started up the group stage by losing to Brazil 1-0, but progressed after beating Northern Ireland by 2-1 and Algeria by 3-0. Round 2 paired Spain with Denmark, who they overcame 5-1 with Emilio Butragueño scoring four goals, but in the quarterfinals a 1-1 draw the interest of with Belgium finished with Belgium winning 5-4 on penalties.

Muñoz was retained as coach for Euro 88. As in the several previous tournaments Spain qualified impressively in a group with Austria, Romania, and Albania. Spain got drawn to commission A and began such a tournament with a 3-2 victory in Denmark, but were nevertheless knocked out in the group step after losing 1-0 and 2-0 to Italy and West Germany respectively.

1990 to 1992

For the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Spain had a new coach, Luis Suárez. Having qualified from a bunch consisting of Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Northern Ireland, and Malta, Spain entered the competition on a good run of form, and in the wake of reaching the knock out stages through a 0-0 draw with Uruguay and wins during South Korea (3-1) and Belgium (2-1), fell to a 2-1 defeat to Yugoslavia in the second round.

Newly appointed coach Vicente Miera failed to gain qualification for Spain for Euro 92, after finishing third in a group behind France and Czechoslovakia. Vicente Miera did but lead Spain to the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics[7] in Barcelona.

Clemente’s reign, 1992-98

Javier Clemente and the Spain team in a training session.

Javier Clemente was appointed as Spain’s coach in 1992, and the qualification for the 1994 World Cup was achieved with eight wins and one loss in twelve matches. In the final tournament Spain were in Group C in that they drew with Korea Republic 2-2 and 1-1 amid Germany, before qualifying for the second round with a 3-1 victory over Bolivia. Spain carried on through the second round amid a 3-0 victory over Switzerland, but their tournament ended with a 2-1 defeat to Italy in the quarter-finals.

Spain qualified for Euro 96 according to a group consisting of Denmark, Belgium, Cyprus, Republic of Macedonia, and Armenia. In the final tournament Spain faced assembly matches against Bulgaria, France and Romania. With 1-1 draws against the first two opponents, and a 2-1 win through Romania, Spain confirmed their place in the quarter-finals, surrounded by a equate amidst hosts England, which wrapped up goalless and Spain eventually fell 4-2 in the shootout.

In his second World Cup as Spain’s coach, Clemente led his team undefeated through their qualifying group in that Yugoslavia and Czech Republic were the other contenders. Spain qualified with fourteen a larger amount of European sides in the beforehand ever thirty-two team World Cup, but got obliterated in the first round with thre points after losing to Nigeria, drawing surrounded by Paraguay, and thriving just one game, against Bulgaria.

Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002

After a 3-2 opening defeat to Cyprus in Euro 2000 qualifying, Clemente was fired and José Antonio Camacho was appointed as coach. Spain won the rest of their games to qualify for the final tournament, where properties got drawn into Group C. A 1-0 defeat to Norway was trailed by victories over Slovenia (2-1) and Yugoslavia (4-3), providing Spain so setting up a quarterfinal against 1998 World Cup champions, France, that was won 2-1 by France.

The qualifying tournament for the 2002 World Cup went as expected for Spain as Spain topped a group consisting of Austria, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein. In the finals tournament Spain won its three matches in group B, against Slovenia, Paraguay (both by 3-1), and South Africa (3-2). Spain beat Republic of Ireland on penalties in the second round, and faced co-hosts Korea Republic in the quarterfinals. Spain twice notion they had scored, but the efforts were disallowed, though video replays showed that both goals were valid and Korea was triumphant in the penalty shootout once a 0-0 draw.

Euro 2004

At Euro 2004 in Portugal, Spain was drawn into commission A with hosts Portugal, Russia and Greece, behind whom they had finished second in qualifying. Spain defeated Russia 1-0 and drew 1-1 with Greece, but failed to get the attractiveness they needed against Portugal to proceed to the knock out stages. Iñaki Sáez was sacked weeks later and replaced by Luis Aragonés.

Spain qualified for the 2006 World Cup only after a play-off against Slovakia, as properties had finished behind Serbia and Montenegro in Group 7, that also included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Lithuania, and San Marino. In Group H of the German hosted finals, Spain won all their matches,and beating Ukraine 4-0, Tunisia 3-1 and Saudi Arabia 1-0. However Spain fell 3-1 in the instant round to France, with only the consolation of a share, with Brazil, of the 2006 FIFA Fair Play Award.

Spain skilled for Euro 2008 at the top of Qualifying Group F with 28 points out of a are expected 36, and were seeded 12th for the finals. They won all their games in Group D: 4-1 against Russia, and 2-1 against both Sweden and defending champions Greece.
Spanish players celebrating their victory in Madrid.

Reigning World Cup holders Italy got the opponents in the quarter final match, and held Spain to a done 0-0 draw resulting in a penalty shoot-out which Spain won 4-2. Spain met Russia once again in the semi-final, again beating them, this time by 3-0.

In the final, played in Vienna’s Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Spain defeated Germany 1-0, with a intention scored by Fernando Torres in the 33rd minute.[10] This was Spain’s first vital title since the 1964 European Championship. Spain got the top scoring team, with 12 goals, and David Villa finished as the top scorer with thre goals; Xavi was awarded the player of the tournament, and nine Spanish players were picked for the UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament.

Shortly after the tournament, Spain reached the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the mostly time, the first team never to have won a World Cup to achieve this.
Confederations Cup debut and 2010 World Cup qualification

Luis Aragonés left the manager’s role following the Euro 2008 success, and was replaced by Vicente del Bosque.

2008 saw David Villa score 12 goals in 15 games, breaking the Spanish record of 10 goals in one year held by Raúl since 1999.[13] On 11 February 2009, David Villa broke another Spanish record as his 36th-minute duty saw him become the initial Spanish player to score in six consecutive games.

Spain initiated its 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign amongst six successive wins, and went into the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup as one of the favourites. By the start of the tournament, Del Bosque’s had ten consecutive wins, making him the first international manager to do so on his debut, breaking Joao Saldanha’s record, held since 1969, of nine consecutive wins with Brazil.

Spain won all three of its matches at the group stage, the 5-0 win throughout New Zealand including a Fernando Torres hat-trick that is the earliest and fastest hat-trick in the tournament’s history. With further wins over Iraq (1-0) and South Africa (2-0) they attained not only qualification for the semifinals, but also obtained the world record for 15 consecutive wins and tied the record of 35 consecutive unbeaten games (with Brazil).

On 24 June 2009, Spain’s undefeated record concluded when the United States beat Spain 2-0 in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-finals that sent Spain to the third place match. This was Spain’s beforehand defeat since 2006. Spain defeated hosts South Africa 3-2 following extra time in the 3rd-place playoff.

On 9 September 2009, Spain secured its place at the 2010 World Cup finals after beating Estonia 3-0 in Mérida.[16] Spain headed on to key in a larger World Cup qualifying record providing 10 wins out of 10 in Group 5, finishing with a 5-2 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 October 2009. The Spaniards entered the 2010 World Cup as second place in the world rankings.

2010 FIFA World Cup

The 2010 World Cup draw, that took place on 4 December 2009, placed Spain in Group H. Spain lost its first group stage match against Switzerland, 0-1. In such a second match they defeated Honduras by 2 goals from David Villa. Their next match against Chile on 25 June was won 2-1. They advanced to the knockout stage to defeat Portugal 1-0, reaching the Quarter Finals, in that properties defeated Paraguay 1-0, scoring off of a goal by David Villa who put the ball in the going back of the net after Pedro smacked the ball off the post, reaching the Semi-Finals for the first time since 1950. They then advanced to the Finals for the initial time of all time by defeating Germany 1-0 via a went goal from Carles Puyol.

Group Stage

Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Switzerland 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4  Honduras 3 0 1 2 0 3 −3 1

16 June 2010 16:00	Spain	0 – 1	Switzerland	Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban Attendance: 62,453 Referee: Howard Webb (England)

21 June 2010 20:30	Spain	2 – 0	Honduras	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg Attendance: 54,386 Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)

25 June 2010 20:30	Chile	1 – 2	Spain	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria Attendance: 41,958 Referee: Marco Rodríguez (Mexico)

Round of 16

29 June 2010 20:30	Spain	1 – 0	Portugal	Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town Attendance: 62,955 Referee: Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)

[edit] Quarter-finals

3 July 2010 20:30	Paraguay	0 – 1	Spain	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg Attendance: 55,686 Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)

Semi-finals

7 July 2010 20:30	Germany	0 – 1	Spain	Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban Attendance: 60,960 Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Final

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Final

11 July 2010 20:30	Netherlands	v	Spain	Soccer City, Johannesburg

Asamoah Gyan (born 12 November 1985 in Accra) is a Ghanaian International football player who plays as a striker for Stade Rennais in the French Ligue 1. He had his high school education at Accra Academy where he played in the school’s soccer team.

Club career

Having signed for Udinese in 2003 from Ghanaian club Liberty Professionals, Gyan would spend two-years on loan at Serie B club Modena primarily to gain experience. Following some excellent displays during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he attracted interest from Russia. He would return to Udinese at the beginning of 2006, but on 17 February 2007, Udinese pulled out of a deal to sell Gyan in the January transfer window. The then 21-year-old striker was on the verge of signing a 3-year deal with Russian Club Lokomotiv Moscow for US$10.5m, the fourth largest in Russian football history. “The striker Udinese targeted to replace me did not sign for them,” Gyan told BBC Sport. “I’ve been told I will now have to stay in Italy for the rest of the season.”

On 10 August, along with Fabio Quagliarella, Gyan signed an improved 5-year contract-extension which would keep him at Udinese until 30 June 2012 as a reward of his fine form in the 2007-08 pre-season.”I have decided to stay here because it is one of the top leagues in the world,” Asamoah said, “There is the possibility of me playing regular football here to make me a better player. “I am comfortable with the new deal and I know I can help Udinese achieve great things for the future”[4]. Asamoah and Quagliarella marked their contract extensions with a brace each in Udinese’s 7-0 friendly win later that evening.

He was linked with a move to Manchester United, Arsenal and A.C. Milan by the Italian mediaon 29 July 2007 following his impressive Pre-season form, including a hat-trick in a friendly against Serie B outfit Spezia on 25 July, before Udinese tied him to the long term deal. Gyan scored ten goals in 2006-07 to help the Stadio Friuli Club to finish in tenth place in Serie A.

He got injured during the 2007-08 Season and never played for Udinese again after January 2008. He played in 13 Serie A matches and scored 4 times that season. On July 11, 2008, Asamoah was signed by French Ligue 1 Club Stade Rennais for 4 years on an €8 million transfer fee.

Gyan warms up at the African Cup of Nations 2008.
International career

In November 2003 Gyan scored his first international goal at the age of seventeen against Somalia making him the youngest ever player to score for Ghana. Gyan also scored the fastest goal of the 2006 FIFA World Cup; a 68-seconds goal, which also happened to be Ghana’s first ever goal in the world cup finals, in the World Cup game against the Czech Republic on 17 June 2006 at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany, which set the Black Stars on their way to a thrilling 2-0 victory. He missed a penalty later in the game, and received a yellow card (ruling him out of the final group game) for trying to take the penalty too early. In Ghana’s defeat to Brazil in the Round of 16, he was sent off in the 81st minute after collecting his second booking of the match (for diving).

He was part of the 2004 Ghana Olympic football squad, who exited in the first round, having finished in third place in Group B after Ghana was tied on 4 points, 0 goal difference and 2-2 Head-to-Head with eventual bronze medalists Italy. Ghana had scored 4 and conceded 4.

Gyan scored on his senior International debut for Ghana against Somalia on 19 November 2003 in the 90th minute, after coming on for Isaac Boakye in the 62nd minute in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier, 3 days before he turned 18 years; helping Ghana to win that game. He went on to score four times in seven matches during that successful World Cup qualifying campaign. He has scored 20 times in 32
appearances for Ghana.

On January 24, 2008 during the 2008 African Cup of Nations Gyan and his brother Baffour decided to walk out on the Black Stars following criticism after their unconvincing 1-0 win[14] over Namibia. The media learnt the brothers had packed their bags and were ready to leave the team hotel but were persuaded to stay by team-mates. In the 2010 African Cup of Nations, Asamoah Gyan helped a Ghana team, ravaged by injuries to the finals. Gyan scored three out of the four Ghana goals during the tournament.

Gyan scored with a penalty in the 85th minute of Ghana’s first match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Serbia, which proved to be the deciding goal in a 1-0 win. He went on to hit the post in the 92nd minute before being substituted to a standing ovation just before the final whistle.In Ghana’s second game, he scored a penalty in the 26th minute to level the scores and earn his team a 1-1 draw against Australia.

In the round of 16 match against the USA, he scored a goal in extra time allowing Ghana to win by a score of 2-1 and hence become the third African team in history to qualify to the tournament’s quarter final, after Cameroon and Senegal. In the quarter final tie against Uruguay, he missed a penalty in the last minute of extra time hitting the crossbar. He converted his penalty in the subsequent penalty shootout, but Uruguay went on to win the shootout 4-2.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	19 November 2003	Ohene Djan Stadium, Ghana	Somalia	2–0	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qual.
2.	3 July 2004	National Stadium, Uganda	Uganda	1–1	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qual.
3.	27 March 2005	Stade des Martyrs, Democratic Republic of the Congo	Congo DR	1–0	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qual.
4.	8 October 2005	Estádio da Várzea, Cape Verde Islands	Cape Verde	3–0	4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qual.
5.	14 November 2005	King Fahd International Stadium, Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	2–1	3–1	Friendly
6.				3–1
7.	4 June 2006	Easter Road Stadium, Scotland	Korea Republic	1–0	3–1	Friendly
8.	17 June 2006	RheinEnergieStadion, Germany	Czech Republic	1–0	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup
9.	20 January 2008	Ohene Djan Stadium, Ghana	Guinea	1–0	2–1	2008 Africa Cup of Nations
10.	15 January 2010	Estádio Nacional do Chiazi, Angola	Côte d’Ivoire	1–3	1–3	2010 Africa Cup of Nations
11.	24 January 2010	Estádio 11 de Novembro, Angola	Angola	1–0	1–0	2010 Africa Cup of Nations
12.	28 January 2010	Estádio 11 de Novembro, Angola	Nigeria	1–0	1–0	2010 Africa Cup of Nations
13.	1 June 2010	De Kuip, Netherlands	Netherlands	1–2	1–4	Friendly
14.	13 June 2010	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, South Africa	Serbia	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup
15.	19 June 2010	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, South Africa	Australia	1–1	1–1	2010 FIFA World Cup
16.	26 June 2010	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, South Africa	United States	2–1	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup

On the up: Holland coach Bert Van Marwijk has set a new Dutch record of five consecutive wins in a World Cup Finals Photo: AP

No one needs to tell the Dutch that the first of those, peace, has often been absent in their World Cup campaigns. This is a nation that has been riven by factions, fall-outs and failure.

But it has been Van Marwijk’s great success that he has not only installed discipline and organisation but also what the Dutch call “gezellig” - a tolerant, relaxed atmosphere that has helped take them into the semi-finals, having beaten Brazil on Friday.

They now face Uruguay and the prize of reaching their first final since 1978 is tantalisingly close.

“If you really want to achieve something, you have to genuinely believe in it,” said Van Marwijk, the 57-year-old coach who succeeded Marco Van Basten and set about doing two things: ending the in-fighting and, on the field, sorting out a defence that had so often been the source of Dutch implosion.

“It sounds very straightforward, but there’s a difference between saying something and doing it,” the former Feyenoord coach added. He has been good to his word.

This is not the most spectacularly gifted Dutch team, far from it, this is not some derivative of Total Football either, but it is a cohesive line-up capitalising on the lack of an outstanding nation at this tournament.

In Wesley Sneijder, however, they also have a player whose gifts and team-work are propelling him above such stellar names as Cristiano Ronaldo and, possibly, even Lionel Messi to be regarded as the World Player of the Year.

Having led Inter Milan to the Champions League trophy, the 26-year-old is also the example of the kind of sophisticated, modern-day play-maker - is he a striker or a midfielder? - that England lack.

There are many contrasts between the English and the Dutch. The progress of the Dutch simply demolishes the argument, disappointingly put forward by Fabio Capello, that England’s demise was in some way linked to the physical demands of the Premier League - who do Dirk Kuyt, Johnny Heitinga, Nigel de Jong and Robin Van Persie play for?

At the same time no one has had a more demanding season that Sneijder, who is now the tournament’s joint-leading scorer with four goals after Fifa’s Technical Study Group credited him with Holland’s opening goal against Brazil.

England located themselves in seclusion, almost out of the World Cup, close to Rustenburg, developing a claustrophobic siege-mentality, while the Dutch have been bang in the middle of Johannesburg, staying in the Sandton Hilton, close to Nelson Mandela Square, where fans and tourists congregate and where the nights are noisy with vuvuzelas and the bustle of bars and restaurants.

This was a deliberate ploy by Van Marwijk. Despite quashing the cliques, he knew that tensions existed and the players needed their own space.

There was, after all, a new tag attached to their forward line - Van Persie, Arjen Robben, Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart - who were referred to as “The Famous Four”.

However, this quartet was summoned to a meeting with Van Marwijk before the tournament, at which they were told to respect the rest of the team.

Kuyt had been irked at being excluded by Van Persie, who has, himself, had a long-running feud with Sneijder which re-surfaced in this campaign over who should have been substituted during a match.

But Van Marwijk, who lured his son-in-law Mark Van Bommel out of international retirement, after the midfielder declared he could not play for Van Basten, has held it together and while traditionally the Dutch start World Cups with a flourish, and then fade, there are signs that this time they are gathering momentum, playing better and not in danger of falling inexplicably.

“When we play as a team, then our individuals shine better,” Van Bommel, who will take on extra responsibility with De Jong suspended, said, echoing his father-in-law.

His, and Holland’s, football may not be to the taste of some, but it is now 24 matches since they lost - and Friday’s victory set a new Dutch record of five consecutive wins in a World Cup Finals.

Source:telegraph.co.uk

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