Spain’s exit from the 2012 Olympic football tournament was as early as it was ignominious. Two matches; no goals scored; nine bookings and one ejection—the final moments of Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Honduras spent in a rage after referee Juan Soto’s decision not to award a penalty to the world and European champions near the end of normal time. La Furia, indeed.
Perhaps they underestimated their opposition. Perhaps, given their recent success on the international stage (they arrived at the Games having already won two titles in July—Euro 2012 and the UEFA U-19 crown) they figured they could get results just by showing up. Perhaps they merely had a poor week.
But to say they didn’t care would be to devalue the importance Olympic football has had on the sport in this country over the past 92 years. It was at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, after all, that Spanish football carved out a place for itself in the national psyche; it was in 1992 in Barcelona that a star-studded team including the likes of Santiago Canizares, Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola finally conquered the world.
Olympic football has generally been of as much importance in Spain as anywhere else in Europe (and probably more), and none of that will have been lost on the players who will be going home early from the current instalment. That silver medal from 1920, for example, remains an indelible part of Spanish football culture.
A glance at the squad from the Antwerp competition reveals why that is. Football had yet to really establish itself in Spain, and the players who went off to the Olympics and returned with a medal became the country’s original football superstars. José Samitier, one of four Barcelona players on the team, was a Catalan icon; Belauste, one of a large Basque contingent, is still lionized for a goal he scored against Sweden.
Then there is Ricardo Zamora and Rafael Moreno. Zamora’s heroics in goal made him a hero back home, and to this day the goalkeeper in La Liga with the best goal-to-games ratio is presented with a trophy in his name. Victor Valdes has won it each of the past four seasons.
Moreno, meanwhile, continues to be honoured with an award given annually to La Liga’s top goalscorer. Of course, most fans will know the legendary Athletic Bilbao marksman by his nickname, “Pichichi”. Lionel Messi won the Pichichi for the second time last campaign, and in each of the last four seasons the Pichichi winner has also taken home the European Golden Boot.
Perhaps it’s because success on the international stage was so rare for so long that Spanish football placed significant importance on the Olympics, and celebrated the achievements when they came. And while the World Cup and successive European championships have turned Spain into the biggest juggernaut world football has ever known, it wasn’t until four years ago that success at the Olympic level stopped being the predominant touchstone in the country’s football legacy.
Olympic football is easily, sometimes conveniently, disregarded in some nations, but very few of them have been as shaped by the Games as Spain. In the tower that is modern Spanish football, the Olympics are the foundation upon which the entire structure rests.
Follow Jerrad Peters on Twitter @peterssoccer
that spanish team looked like they were thrown together at the last minute.
nobody in spain or around the world cares that they lost that tournament.
some powerhouses haven’t even qualified!(germany,italy)
olympic soccer is like the world uefa cup
its a lower competition that gives different nations a chance to win some silverware
its nowhere the best players
they were not even playing tiki taka
Yeah, try and make olympic footy look important and Spain’s “demise” seem noteworthy.
NOBODY CARES!!!
For all it’s worth. It should just be nations that don’t often qualify for the world cup and major continental tournaments such as the European Championships.
Let ‘em have a kick about! =)
Spain don’t give a crap about this tourney. Everyone playing against them will. Brazil is trying SO hard to win this because they’re scared of the real Spain destroying them in their own backyard in 2 years time.
You think anyone in Spain is actually disappointed by this??? THEY WERE JUST CROWNED EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS…AGAIN.
NO OLYMPIC FAILURE WILL PUT A BLEMISH ON THEIR REPUTATION.
it’s very entertaining reading real losers. say what you will, spain lost and couldn’t even score a single point in this so-called low level competion which to me makes spain even worse of a team. and the arguement of ‘they didn’t even care to try’ only shows their lack of sportsmanship which they displayed beutifully in the last minutes. if they were really that good, i would assume they would breeze through without trying… but reality tells us otherwise.
I don’t know if you all realize that qualifying for the Olympic tournaments occur through each of the confederation’s U23/U21 national tournaments. The reason why you don’t see the likes of Germany and Italy in the Olympics is because both those sides had abysmal U21 championships last year in Denmark. Spain was the class of the act.
As for no one cares about Olympic football, some people will say yes. But it is still an international stepping stone for most players nowadays to greater glory in the future. Messi and Tevez have both used it as a platform to show they have arrived at the international stage. As did Pep as will Neymar this Olympics. I am watching the tournament because of seeing some great up and coming players showcasing their talents and nothing more.
Yes, Spain got knocked out but it’s their U21 side with three overage players on it. Spain are still the most dominant footballing side in the world. And will be for another 2-4 years. This little blemish won’t change how the world sees them, not even close.
Good to see the Hondurans were up to their usual antics. Good ole CONCACAF fake injuries and time wasting. While all countries do it, Central American countries take the crown. As a Canada fan, it was a joy to watch a European team lose their shit while yet another Honduran rolled around on the ground, something which I am almost desensitized to now. Los Quatrachos and El Tri in the final?
The fact that The Footy Blog mentioned the men’s soccer in the Olympics, let alone saying it has significance is truly a gift of the Gods, and I don’t mean Olympus. More like Abbott and Costello. “Who’s at the Olympics?”
“Yes”
“Who?”
“Yes”
“Who’s at the Olympics?”
“Yes, WHO is at the Olympics”
“That’s what I’m askin’ YOU!”
Please. Please don’t insult this football fan’s intelligence. Great, I’m glad the Olympics helped Spain in their footy efforts. This is 2012, the Olympics are cashgrabbing joke, especially in men’s soccer.
This post feels incomplete. Further, seeing as The Score is North American and some readers of the Footy Blog might not be die-hard futbol fans, I feel there should be some mention in here of the fact that the roster of this Spain team who lost is not at all the same as the squad that won Euro 2012.
Great info, though. I don’t like to sound negative, because I learned a lot from this post – many details I wasn’t aware of.
Call it karma ….. the lack of respect at the end of the euro final a few weeks ago … followed by SHUT OUT! losses to Japan … AND THEN HONDURAS!!! amidst fits of frustration …. what goes around comes around people …. I love the talent Spain has …. but respect your opponent ….
Spain will never be a dynasty, after this epic fail in the olympic tournament