Can I change nationality?

What a weird question for a start? Yes, I agree. Let me foresay that I am not going to write about politics, but about football. Yesterday I watched a real football match (maybe I should write THE FOOTBALL MATCH, with capital letters), played by two outstanding teams, looking desperately for victory and glory. It was a game for tough guys and not for pop-stars, like Spanish footballers often pretend to look like. That is what football is about, and not about merchandising and stars and similar FIFA issues.

It may be the best football match I have watched in my 28 years. I cannot write much about it even in Spanish. Thus, imagine the problems I have when trying to express what I felt last night in English. Maybe the photograph of Fabio Cannavario, Italian defender, aims to summarize it all. It was a battle in the XXIst century, and everybody acted as an hero, even the German team.

Because everyone agrees that German players also made an excellent match. From a technical point of view, they are not brilliant as Brasilians or Spaniards, but they do their best and they keep on running and running and running and running. I truly admire their determination, their competitiveness (I mean the noun linked with competitive) and the fact that they never fail. When they play for the national team, there is no place for mistakes.

However, winners last night were Italians. It was an exhibition, a group of 14 men strongly committed to one objective, not making any mistake at all, running as much as possible and even more (special mention for the undervalued Gattuso) and making football simple but effective. Every Italian must feel very proud of their football team, after some turbulent years of mean football. Besides, we must congratulate (and envy) every Italian we know, because they must have something in their blood which makes them so competitive.

Today I would like to be Italian in order to feel the immense joy of having my country in the final game of a World Cup. But, as far as I know, Guadalajara is not Italy. Let's wait until August and the Basketball World Cup, when Spain is going with the best team ever.