Viva Don Andres!

The sweetest way to end the tournament was for my favorite Spanish player to put the proverbial last nail into the coffin.

It came from an attempt at a cross by Nando Torres, which bounced back to Cesc Fabregas, who set it up for winger Andrés Iniesta.  In the split second before he took the shot, you knew that there was no way this ball would go but in.  With only about 3 minutes more of extended time, it was all over for the Dutch.

Throughout the tournament, I always felt bad for the little guy (he's around 5' 6" or 5' 7") whenever larger opponents tried to trip him.  So what if he dives?  You would too, if 10 burly guys are running after you.  I bet karma's a bitch, right Heitinga?

 

I called my friend Tafa to gloat, and when he picked up the phone, he barked “I don’t want to talk to any Spanish people today!”  Sorry Tafa, I guess the octopus was right in the end.

 

I would like to thank my cousins and my nephew for being patient with the screaming.

 

As a tribute to Andrés, here is a video from the Catalan comedy show Crackovia (posted and translated by totalBarca.com) where Iniesta (played by Oriol Cruz) takes on Cristiano Ronaldo (played by Bruno Oro). Enjoy!

Edit: The following video is of the actual incident between Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo that is the basis of the parody.

Pics from the 2010fifaworldcup blog at tumbler, and guardian.co.uk.