Under great anticipation, in true American style, including a speech by the mayor and a marching band, the Spanish national team’s expedition landed on Friday night in Chattanooga, a beautiful town located in the southeast of Tennessee, where Luis de la Fuente and his team will establish their base camp throughout the first phase of the World Cup. “A team takes off. A country flies,” read the personalized Airbus 350-Next that transported ‘La Roja’ from Rosalía de Castro airport, in Santiago de Compostela, to Chattanooga, after a stopover in Nashville
Read more The object of desire from fifty onwards
The disappointing draw against Iraq in La Coruña was not even commented on. As De la Fuente did in the press conference, the Spanish squad took it as a necessary formality to face the final stretch of World Cup preparation. Little or no importance was given to a match that left much to be desired. The good part starts now, they believe, once they have crossed the pond and with butterflies in their stomachs.
Local press has compared the national team’s arrival to that of the Beatles in the 60s
Spain’s arrival in Chattanooga, a relatively unknown North American town located on the banks of the Tennessee River, has become quite an event for the locals. While Mayor Tim Kelly estimated the direct impact of the national team’s presence in his city at around $600,000, a good part of which will be used to pay overtime for security forces, busier than ever with the safety of Lamine Yamal and his crew, the local press spared no praise. “For soccer fans in Chattanooga, the arrival of the Spanish team is like a 1960s teenager waiting for the arrival of the Beatles. Instead of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, these stars are Lamine, Nico, Rodri, Pedri…”, assured Scenic City’s best-selling newspaper.
As was already public knowledge, the facilities of the Baylor School, located a few minutes from the Spanish team’s concentration hotel, will serve as the training ground for Luis de la Fuente’s team. A pitch they will inaugurate this Saturday, with a double training session scheduled by the coach. In the morning, the internationals will stretch their legs a bit to shake off the fatigue of a long journey, and in the afternoon, the session will be open to the public, so they can enjoy their idols up close.
Read more High-speed service suspended between Girona and Barcelona due to a train breakdown in La Sagrera
The footballers won’t have much time to settle into their headquarters as their schedule in these first few days is intense and relentless. De la Fuente has scheduled a training session for this Sunday morning, and then the expedition will board a plane again to fly to Puebla, Mexico, where on Monday (4 am on Monday to Tuesday morning in Spain) La Roja will face Peru in the last friendly before their World Cup debut, a match in which much more competitive tension is expected than against Iraq.
Upon their return to Chattanooga on Tuesday, the footballers will undergo the mandatory and official FIFA photo session and will then be able to focus all their attention on Cape Verde, Spain’s first opponent in the tournament, a match scheduled for June 15 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta at noon (6:00 PM in the Peninsula).
Read more Teachers plan a single strike on Tuesday in Barcelona and a demonstration on the 14th
