Photo: Kevin Walsh / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Fernando Torres, who won the 2010 World Cup with Spain before joining Chelsea, has reflected on that tournament in an archived interview republished ahead of Spain's second World Cup final, against Argentina in New Jersey on Sunday.
Torres made his World Cup debut at Germany 2006, where Spain were eliminated in the second round. He later described that early exit as formative for the squad that would go on to win Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
"The group that was in South Africa when we won the World Cup was more or less the same group that was in Germany four years before," Torres said. "I think that experience of losing in the World Cup quite early on was a big help for the future, and in particular for South Africa."
Spain entered the 2010 tournament as favourites and European champions, but lost their opening group match to Switzerland. Torres described the defeat as a psychological test for the squad.
"The worst thing about losing to Switzerland was that we lost playing the way we wanted to play," he said. "We had a meeting after that game. We agreed it was an accident. Playing this way we knew we were going to win more games than we were going to lose."
Spain recovered to beat Honduras and Chile, qualifying from the group in first place. They then eliminated Portugal 1-0 in the last 16, with David Villa scoring the only goal, before a quarter-final win over Paraguay in which goalkeeper Iker Casillas saved a penalty in the 70th minute.
A 1-0 semi-final victory over Germany in Durban — settled by a corner kick — set up a final against the Netherlands in Johannesburg. Andrés Iniesta scored in extra time to give Spain a fourth successive 1-0 knockout-round win.
"Iniesta's goal is going to be in our hearts and in our minds forever," Torres said. "Sometimes when you are a kid you can dream but for us, as Spanish people, we never dreamed as high as winning the World Cup. We grew up watching Spain on television not going further than the quarter-finals."
Torres credited manager Luis Aragonés with maintaining belief in Spain's possession-based style despite widespread scepticism. "Aragones always said: 'This team is going to be champions. You still don't believe in that but you will,'" Torres recalled.
The interview was originally conducted in 2014, ahead of Torres's third and final World Cup. Spain face Argentina on Sunday as they bid to become world champions for a second time, 16 years after their victory in South Africa.