Mariano Rajoy, the outspoken leader of Spain’s Partido Popular, the right of center political party, wants everyone to know that while he thinks Spain will win our match against Chile today, if we don’t it’s not Sara Carbonero’s fault. He’s referring to the odd story that surfaced after Spain’s first round loss to Switzerland that somehow Iker Casillas was “distracted” by his girlfriend, reporter Sara Carbonero, who covers Spain at the World Cup.
She famously questioned him brutally after the match (below). Sorry about the Spanish–I couldn’t find it in English. But she (in)famously asks him “how did you muck that one up?” though I can’t hear those exact words.
Mariano Rajoy (above)
The response in the Spanish press, however, was much more about how the English/Americans were trying to bring their drama into Spain’s locker room–referring to the John Terry sex scandal that the English suffered through during qualification.
So, with Spain’s match about an hour away, it’s time for you to throw away your sense of shame, because this game is ANOTHER final, and I’m going all out–todos a una con la roja as they say. So here are Spain’s qualification options, as I see them:
To Qualify First: Win, and hope that Switzerland doesn’t beat Honduras by more than three goals.
To Qualify Second: Tie and Swiss tie; tie and Swiss loss; loss (by less than two goals) and Swiss loss, provided that Honduras doesn’t win by four plus goals.
But for the country to have any confidence moving forward, we need to win. Plus, if we qualify first we avoid Brazil in the first round–we’d have to play Portugal instead, and an all-Iberian game would be really fun.
A POR ELLOS!
Both of the following videos are in Spanish, so watch them at your own risk!
And here’s a Spanish satire of what would happen if Sara Carbonero and Iker Casillas were to break up during the World Cup: