The most dominant European club side of recent years has been Spanish giants Barcelona, whose players make up the nucleus of an all-conquering Spain team.
Vicente Del Bosque's Spain team have yet to fire on all cylinders at the tournament, losing to Switzerland in the opening match and then winning all three knockout stage matches 1-0 -- including the semifinal against Germany.
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Spain team doctor Angel Ruiz-Cotorro said Nadal would need three to six weeks to recover and although the injury is not career threatening, playing against Argentina in the Davis Cup later this month was not worth the risk.
But success can be elongated and that is what the Spain national team is attempting to do.
The early part of this century had the then Spain national team manger Jose Antonio Camacho caught between the elegance of players such as Juan Carlos Valeron and Pep Guardiola and more physically imposing players like Ivan Helguera, Ruben Baraja and David Albelda.
One player, a Venezuelan pitcher, qualified for Team Spain by marrying a Spanish woman.
But his twin brother, Paco, an infielder for Team Spain, is still hoping to latch on with a major-league organization.
For instance, Adidas is sponsoring Spain, a team which is expected to go to the semi-final round, and Nike, besides backing Portugal, is also sponsoring the No. 1 team, Brazil.
But it was from a through ball by the influential Fabregas that midfielder Iniesta struck making Spain the first team to win a World Cup after losing their opening game of the tournament.
Hearts have never played the Catalan giants and have never beaten a team from Spain in European competition.
Spain also became the team to win the World Cup having scored the fewest number of goals - finding the net eight times in their seven matches.
"As Asian Pacific Americans support U.S. Olympic athletes, some of whom are Asian-American, it is disturbing to OCA that Spain's basketball team would introduce such divisive imagery into the Olympics, " he said.
While the celebrations continued across Spain, the Dutch team were also given special treatment as they returned home on Monday and were escorted through Dutch airspace by two fighter jets, one of them orange.
It says something about how short the life cycle of success can be when Spain became the first team in international soccer to win three major tournaments in succession when they retained the European Championship this past summer.
More than any other team, Spain embodies one of the enduring quirks of the tournament, which is now in its third edition: Loose rules that allow fringe countries to compensate for a lack of baseball talent by signing just about anyone who could remotely identify with them.
The championship has come down to a duel between Germany's Sebastian Vettel (of the Red Bull team) and Spain's Fernando Alonso (Ferrari).
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Meanwhile, Vicente del Bosque -- whose Spain side became the first team to successfully defend the European Championship -- was named Coach of the Year.
Brazil demonstrated why many feel they are the team to challenge Spain for the gold medal, with an explosive opening 26 minutes that saw the South American side take a 3-0 lead against Egypt.
Her death followed the suicide last October 25 by a 53-year-old man who hanged himself at a home in southern Spain shortly before the eviction team -- judicial and bank representatives, backed by police -- showed up.
Trailing 10-4 at one point on Saturday, and 10-6 as Sunday's singles got underway, the team led by Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal defied the odds to win a record eight-and-a-half points on the final day and thus the trophy itself.
The disappointment was partly offset by her call-up for the England senior team to travel to Spain.
When it comes to national team soccer tournaments, Spain has reigned supreme, and made some serious money doing so.
Should Gerrard move to the Bernabeu he will again link up with former Anfield star Michael Owen, who made the move to Spain in August, and England team-mates Jonathan Woodgate and David Beckham.
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Iker Casillas retained his place in goal, having been handed a second chance alter an injury to his replacement Adan, but Mourinho would not guarantee that the Spain captain would stay in the team for Tuesday's Spanish Cup quarterfinal first leg against Valencia.
When Spain boss Vicente del Bosque gathered his team some six weeks ago, he found a tired and weary squad.
Coulthard, speaking at the launch of Red Bull's new car in Spain, warned that even if the team are bought out, Button could still experience a hugely frustrating season at the back of the grid.
Spain appeared remarkably relaxed, playing like a team that had already qualified, but in reality the qualification picture was on a paper-thin edge for most of the night.
In July, Spain made history by becoming the first international team in the history of the sport to win three consecutive major trophies: Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012.
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