Eurocup Finals: Spain vs. Italy

Photo courtesy: Cynthia Bathgate

The Eurocup finals were tonight. It's more formally known as the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. We had a lot of fun being creative and making costumes and buying jerseys. I went simple and used the red and yellow Spanish flag as a cape. 

The best place to watch the finals in Guardamar is outside one of the many bars and restaurants. Every restaurant has large flat-screen TVs that face the street so that people can sit outside and enjoy the warm evening while watching an intense games. There is a whole street of restaurants a couple of blocks East of the Pension, which was perfect for us. All of the tables were already reserved for large groups, though, so we opted to sit inside. There was air conditioning, which was a definite plus, but we were a little removed from all of the action outside. 

Spain has some of the best public gathering spaces that are informal but very welcoming. It feels natural to sit outside with everybody, staring at one screen, whereas it feels very awkward to isolate yourself inside to watch the game. Nonetheless, the air was tense with anticipation as the game began. 

The waitress gave us noisemakers and our table was right next to the TV in the corner. We asked them to turn it up even though we couldn't understand the commentary. 

I ordered a tinto (a glass of red wine) and took a sip whenever anyone made an attempt for the goal. Needless to say, I finished my glass...

Photo courtesy: Cynthia Bathgate

During the game, we couldn't help but scream and yell at almost every goal attempt. The Spaniards in the restaurant with us, who have been following football for their entire lives, knew to save their energy for when a real goal happened. It was like they could predict which goal attempts would actually result in a block or a goal. A few nights before, there was an old man at the front of the outdoor area, parked right in front of the TV, staring straight ahead, chain smoking to relieve the stress...

Spain became the first team to win the Eurocup two times in a row--and it turns out they won the 2010 World Cup as well, so they managed to win 3 consecutive tournament titles! The final score was 4-0. At one point, the camera zoomed in on an Italian woman who was staring straight ahead... an a single tear rolled down her cheek. 

The honking and celebrating seemed to last all night.