When I last wrote, Spain was about to play the Netherlands in its first ever World Cup final. The “Clockwork Orange” team, as the Netherlands’ national team is often called, looked to be a formidable opponent. Most people here were just so thrilled that Spain had gotten so far in the World Cup that they were going to be happy with whatever, but we so badly wanted Spain to win it all!

In the end Spain once again pulled off a 1-0 win, thanks to an overtime shot by Andrés Iniesta, and the city went INSANE. The Eurocup was NOTHING compared to the madness that ensued that Sunday night!

People poured out of bars, restaurants and homes into the streets of Madrid, donning Spain team jerseys, Spanish flags, airhorns, even cardboard cut-outs of Paul the Octopus! The few cars that were out on the road were filled with fans hanging out the car windows with the Spanish flag and drivers who were honking all night--I even heard one the next morning at 7 a.m.! Seas of people proceeded down the major thoroughfare in Madrid, the Paseo de la Castellana, congregating in every plaza, jumping into city fountains and clogging up the city centre around the Plaza de Colón, Plaza de la Cibeles and in more places all over downtown. COMPLETE CHAOS.

The match ended around 11, and some friends and I began the long trek down the Castellana and stopped when we could not get past Plaza Colón. We hung out with the crazies for a bit, and I realized I was hungry--I had been so nervous during the match that I hadn’t ordered dinner! So two friends and I took a detour down to Gran Vía, where we stopped at a 24-hour pizza shop before heading home a little before 3 a.m.

The cool thing was that our boss told us that we could come in at 10 a.m. the next morning due to the match, so I didn’t wind up losing that much sleep :)

I must confess, I myself was pretty giddy that night--even if Spain wins the World Cup again someday, having been here for this historic event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! That’s how the 2010 World Cup ended. And now to tell you the story of welcoming the team back to Spain ...

(P.S. The title of this post refers to a common cheer/song used here: “campeones” means champions, and “oe,” well, it’s just a noise kind of like “la, la, la,” I suppose!)