FIFA World champions Spain travel to home from South Africa on Monday for a massive celebration, including meetings with the king of Spain and Prime Minister and a bus ride outdoors in the center of the city.
At least several hundreds of thousands of fans expected to line the streets of the capital to celebrate the Spain of the first World Cup, less than 12 hours after 300,000 jammed the center of a loud party just after victory .
The team, who beat Holland 1-0 in extra time in Johannesburg on Sunday evening, was to arrive at Madrid's international airport, about 14:30, local time (1230 GMT). The players sit for several hours in an airport hotel before meeting with King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Zapatero.
But the highlight of the team is 5 kilometers (3 miles) of open-air buses through Madrid landmarks of the past panish crowd of cheering dressed in brightly colored red and yellow, colors of the Spanish flag.
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Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
2010 World Cup Favorites Brazil and Spain 2010 Soccer World Cup
But with key players from many teams reportedly suffering from injuries and with the ever-present possibility of magical Cinderella stories sports commentators say anything could happen during the weeks ahead.
The June 11 opener marks the start of what is known as the Group Stage. That's because the 32 teams are divided into eight groups each with four teams.
In the Group Stage, each team plays all of the other teams in their group. A team earns three points for winning a game, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. At the end of the Group Stage, it is the top two teams from each group a total of 16 teams that advance to elimination matches.
Once they reach the top 16 teams, the points earned during the Group Stage no longer matter. Simply, if a team loses a game once in the round of 16 it is eliminated. The only exception will occur the night before the final, when the two losing semifinalists will play to determine third and fourth place. Then, on July 11, the two finalists meet on the pitch of Johannesburg's new Soccer City stadium, to determine the World Cup champion.
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