Editorial: Gloria a Espana

Tue, 07/01/2008 10:25 AM  |  Opinion

Coach Luis Aragones was right. No one will remember the losers. He repeated those words to his La Furia Roja (the Red Fury) ahead of their Euro 2008 final against Germany.

Twenty-four-year-old striker Fernando Torres, who many have predicted will become a superstar in the near future, led Spain in taming Die Mannschaft (the Team). The absence of top scorer David Villa from the Spanish side did nothing to dampen their fighting spirit.

The young Spaniards gave everything they had out on the pitch to end a 44-year title drought and claim the Henry Delaunay trophy and a 7.5 million euro cash prize -- the best birthday present possible for coach Aragon*s, who turns 70 on July 28.

Their victory spoiled a planned celebration in Berlin. Instead, the festivities moved to Madrid's Plaza de Colon where fans joined the celebrations with the squad Monday evening.

The win also puts the Spanish national team under the spotlight after all these years of being in the shadow of better-known club sides Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Discussing the victory, Aragon*s, the Wise Man of Hortaleza, said, "We have players that are some of the best ball players and passers in the world .... The players have matured since we went out of the World Cup and we have constructed a group that can win the European Championship and is capable of winning the World Cup."

Despite his departure from the national squad after the victory, most likely to Turkey's Fenerbahce, Aragon*s has crafted a lasting legacy.

"I helped make the players understand what it means to compete ... I'm very happy to have had a group that believed in me and the way I work," he said.

Germany's defeat was disappointing, but in reaching the final coach Joachim Loew proved that he is not just an assistant to Juergen Klinsmann.

Setting his eyes on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Loew said of the loss, "for us it is going to be an incentive to work hard in the next two years. For us, it is a great performance to reach the final, it has been something extraordinary and we are proud of that".

Now that the final curtain has dropped on Euro 2008, the experts and observers are offering their summations of the tournament.

UEFA president Michel Platini said the event offered all kinds of emotions -- joy, disappointment, relief or high tension -- right up to the final whistle.

There are no more tears and laughter for soccer fans around the world, including in Indonesia. Although we here were not part of the quadrennial event, Indonesians were just as enthusiastic about following the matches as the Germans, Spaniards and other finalists. Many people here sacrificed sleep -- ignoring state power firm PT PLN's call for energy saving -- to watch matches into the early morning hours.

Euro 2008 took over newspaper headlines, although many still rued the absence of the English team. The matches hypnotized Indonesians and, for a brief moment, helped them forget about the fuel price increases, violent student protests and other pressing, and depressing, issues.

But Euro 2008 was more than just a soccer tournament. It involved national sentiments, with the pride of a nation decided by 11 players on the field.

For Indonesians, such sentiments are rare. The last time the fans celebrated a red-and-white squad victory was in 1991 when the team won the Southeast Asian Games gold medal.

Other than that, Indonesian soccer has no international achievements. It has never qualified for the World Cup or the Olympic Games. Most of the time, the team crashes out in the first round of the Asian Cup, while in the ASEAN Football Championships, its best achievement was runner-up in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

It may be unfair to compare Spain and Indonesia, but we can at least learn from the new European champion that nothing is impossible.

With so little in the way of achievement in the past half-century, Indonesia should imitate Spain's never-say-die fighting spirit. National players could learn about Soeratin Sosrosoegondo, a soccer fanatic who upon returning to Indonesia from his studies in Germany to work for a Dutch company, used the sport to gather together his fellow countrymen and women and force the Dutch colonialists out.

Such fighting spirit is desperately needed in a more highly competitive world. Indonesia is lacking competitiveness not only on the soccer field but in other areas.

We should keep in mind founding president Sukarno's famous quote, "Jangan sekali sekali meninggalkan sejarah" (never forget history). By learning from history, we can do better in the future. Spain did it. They deserved victory. Felicidades, campeones.

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