CHENNAI: They say history doesn’t repeat itself. Then, how do you explain the eerie similarities between Spain lifting its title in 2010 and the 2026 campaign?
Spain entered the 2010 World Cup as the holders of the European Championship. It began its campaign that year in the worst possible manner, with a 0-1 loss against Switzerland. But since that first game, Spain never lost a single game in the competition, edging out opponents with score lines of 2-0 (Honduras), 2-1 (Chile), 1-0 (Portugal), 1-0 (Paraguay), 1-0 (Germany) before besting the Netherlands 1-0 in the final.
Guess how many goals the top scorer had in that campaign? Five. And the second-best was a midfielder (Iniesta) with two goals.
Now let’s draw parallels with the 2026 World Cup. Spain entered the competition as the European holders. It began the campaign with a 0-0 shocking draw against Cape Verde. Immediately, like in 2010, the talk was that this Spanish side wouldn’t go all the way. But as the tournament progressed,
Spain showed its attacking prowess, and it faced Portugal in the knockout stage this time around, too. The result? 1-0. The scoreline of the final? Yet another 1-0, and the clash wasn’t too dissimilar either, as Argentina played an aggressive in-your-face kind of football similar to the Netherlands.
The best goalkeeper in 2010? Iker Casillas of Spain, and in 2026? Unai Simon of Spain. It was perhaps written in the stars that Spain was going to lift the title.