Spain Reacts

Two great articles about yesterday's game from the Spanish perspective. Eduardo Alvarez's piece in ESPN is particularly interesting because it gives a cultural angle to how Spaniards viewed the game. The New York Times's Goal Blog has a great re-cap of the Spanish media's take on the loss. Much of the sentiment can be categorized as "Shit happens," or "We were bound to lose." Spanish media also quoted players giving a lot of respect for the U.S.'s defense, which in my view was the key to our victory yesterday. "Twenty nine shots on goal. That says it all," observed midfielder Xabi Alonso. "They were a wall," he said, referring the U.S. back line.

ESPN:
Spain relapse in Bloemfontein

New York Times:
The Reaction in Spain Deals Mostly With Pain


UPDATE:
Just read some comments from Fernando Torres about yesterday's loss via FIFA.com. What a class act:

"I wanted us to win even more games. We didn't feel any extra pressure just because we were winning game after game. Something like that can only give you confidence. At the end of the day the USA took their chances up front, kept it tight at the back and deserved to win. You've got to congratulate them on that."

"The most important thing now is that we keep on showing the same down-to-earth approach as we did when we went all that time unbeaten," added the former Atletico Madrid prodigy. "I don't think anyone can say we ever showed a lack of respect to our opponents in that time. USA were the better side because they coped with the pressure we put on them and scored the goals. We'll try to take something out of the game and improve, just as we've been doing up to today."