La Furia Roja

With Spain, aptly described as the Atlanta Braves of international soccer by SI's Jonah Freedman, you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even when they appear astonishingly strong, attacking from all angles, stringing together passes like few other teams can, and controlling play seemingly effortlessly, there's always that seed of doubt in the back of every Spanish fan's mind that a shocking letdown is just around the corner. The only thing that changes from one tournament to the next is the culprit: in France '98, it was La Seleccion's ultra-conservative coach, Javier Clemente, as Spain crashed out in the first round; in Euro '00, it was Raul's Baggio-like penalty miss against the French in round 2; in the last World Cup, just when everything seemed to be clicking for them, the Spanish dream was shattered by some appalling refereeing decisions by Egypt's Gamal Ghandour (who may or may not have wagered tens of thousands of dollars on Korea in that game); two years ago at Euro '04, Spain had the misfortune of being drawn in a difficult group, including host Portugal and eventual champions Greece, and never made it into the knock-out rounds, falling 0-1 to their Iberian rivals.

This time around, most Spanish fans seem to be resigned to the fact that there will be yet another chapter written in Spain's long book of disappointments, the only question is who will be responsible for it. Before the tournament began, a Madrid newspaper showed a photo of the World Cup's referees under the headline "Which one of them will kick us out this time?", reminding the Spanish audience of all the injustices against them from 1934 to 2002 (put it this way - if Mark Cuban had been in charge of Spain four years ago, he would currently be serving a life sentence in some Cairo peniteniary for leaving Ghandour's severed head floating in the Nile). Even after shredding a tough Ukraine team 4-0 in their first game, the Spanish sport daily "Marca" felt compelled to print a headline before yesterday's Tunisia game encouraging the country that "You'll see that it wasn't a dream". When La Seleccion fell behind to an early goal by the Africans, who only managed a draw with Saudi Arabia (the only team in the Cup that might be an underdog against Togo), all of the fans from Sevilla to Bilbao must have been questioning the accuracy of that statement. After laying siege to the Carthage Eagles' goal for more than an hour, Spain finally broke through, first with a goal by the off-form Raul, followed by a wonderful equalizer from 'El Nino' Torres, off a pass from a real 'nino' Cesc Fabregas, and then a penalty from Torres to make the final scoreline a more flattering 3-1. Not only does the win qualify Spain for round 2, but it subjects an innocent worldwide audience to more camera angles of Carles "The Unfrozen Caveman" Puyol, Spain's bruising defender and candidate for captain of the Cup's All-Ugly Team. After having to watch him throughout Barcelona's march to this year's Champions League title, this is just salt on the wounds.

Despite the win, the game will have been a stark reminder of past failures - just when the Spaniards want to believe that this could be their year, they are always brought crashing back down to earth. Gamal Ghandour may have mercilessly retired a few years ago, but rest assured he has only passed the torch of Spain's nemesis onto someone else. Be it the fault of the referees, their own coach, or even one of their many superstar players, the only question with Spain is not if it will all go horribly wrong, but when and how. Oh, and how many TVs will explode from transmitting the hideous images of everyone's least favorite Caveman. Watch this space.