Red and Yellow Champions!!

July 11, 2010. World Cup Final Spain--Netherlands. Where were you during this historic moment?

A few of us got together at a local bar with a giant screen and projector, to watch the final game featuring the home country (of most people with the exception of a few of us). :) We came dressed in red and yellow, and some people brought paints to decorate faces, arms or whatever!

There was singing, dancing, cheering and general psyching-up before the game, as people were nervous, and I don't mean the players.

Warming up the voices pre-game

The game was filled with people yelling at the referee, as he was judged to be unfair for not giving the Netherlands more penalties or ejecting people for playing dirty. I don't know anything about football, but even these kicks and direct contact was obvious enough.

Anyhow, despite it all, the red and yellow (playing in blue, go figure) fought hard and came up with the one, game-winning goal. The bar erupted in celebrations and so the night began......

Champagne (or cava?) is brought out right after the goal is scored!

Singing and merriment in red and yellow

You would think this display of nationalism means they are true Spaniards, but these two are not at all!! Guess which country they are from (another trivia contest)! :)

Well one of us ain't Spanish either, but what the heck--when in Rome, right?

After the game, we headed into the centre of town, to the popular plaza where everyone gathers at night, and man, were people gathered around there that night! The square was filled with people singing, dancing, chanting, hugging, kissing etc etc. All you could see was a mass of red and yellow clothes and flags, and then firecrackers were set off later on.

What excitement in the streets!!

Sergio is an example of joyful merriment here, after being a nervous-wreck through the game, and having to escape outside during tense moments! ;)

Crazy people scale the lampposts to dance

Look, it's Pulpo Paul, the all-knowing 8-legged predictor of football destinies!

The skies are lit up as the festivities continue late into the night

A while later, things started to get crazy as footballs were dug out from somewhere, and people were throwing and kicking them around. This resulted in innocent party-goers being smacked on the head, or kicked in the back with them. Some stupid drunks were breaking windows of the flats around the square and that was not cool, so we left when the atmosphere was still happy and positive.

Still after a week and a bit, people are still talking and the game is still on the news!! This historic event will not be forgotten anytime soon--yesterday on the news we watched a report about how some fanatics were getting World Cup 2010 champ tattoos.....now that's one way to never forget!