Iniesta’s goal at Soccer City in Johannesburg completely changed the history of national football 12 years ago with the capture of the first World Cup on African soil
July 11, 2010 is an unforgettable date for Spanish football. The day Spain, with Vicente del Bosque at the helm, hit the air at Soccer City, now known as the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. The night when he reached the Olympus of world football for the first, and only time so far. Everyone still remembers where and with whom they watched that game against the Netherlands that completely changed the history of Spanish sport and which is now twelve years old.
That final, the first World Cup for La Roja and in which an entire country turned completely around to fulfill a dream, is still very much alive a long decade later. If the tenth anniversary couldn’t be celebrated just because of the pandemic, the covid-19 seems to have been left in the background on the twelfth. That kick, more typical of martial arts, by De Jong on the chest of Xabi Alonso, which could very well have knocked out the Tolosa resident, is still in the retina. Also that magic foot that Casillas took from Robben when all seemed lost and that could completely change the script of the game.
But if there is a moment that has gone down in history, it is undoubtedly that minute 116. It is precisely the moment that has since been marked in the memory of football fans, not so much of this country, and even ended with an ice cream. Andrés Iniesta’s goal, who arrived in South Africa during the season after an ordeal of injuries, and his special shirt tribute to the late Dani Jarque went down in the history books of Spanish sport. The piece that, even twelve years later, is still remembered from start to finish with all kinds of details.
“He’s trying to leave, Navas is leaving, let’s go Torres stands out. The world against Navas, who has the speed to go there, manages to send the ball to Iniesta’s heel. Cesc arrives, Navas reappears, who collapses. The ball comes for Fernando Torres, he prepares the cross, Iniesta asks for it, the rebound for Cesc, Cesc for Iniesta. There is no offside, let’s go Iniesta, goal» said Carlos Martínez that evening. The story that remains in the memory of thousands of Spaniards to this day.
That game that the midfielder, today in the ranks of the Japanese Vissel Kobe, spoke about more than once, making him hear the silence. Yes, silence as difficult as it seems. Neither the vuvuzelas, which became so famous during the South African event, nor the din typical of a final, were an obstacle for Iniesta to stop time and become a national hero. The man who scored the most important goal in the history of Spanish football with which La Roja embroidered his star on his chest.
The victory with which the team of Del Bosque, who had the complicated mood to replace Sabio de Hortaleza in a nice competition, broke the statistics. No one could ever have declared themselves world champions after losing the first game, until the Spanish team came in after losing to Switzerland on their debut in South Africa.
The victory that dedicated a generation that had brought Spanish football to the top, after decades of always crashing into the same wall. The title with which Spain avenged major disappointments such as Tassotti’s famous elbow strike to Luis Enrique in the 1994 World Cup in the United States or the controversial quarter-final match against South Korea in 2002.
Source: La Verdad
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