Aug 7, 2026 · 56 min · 9 segments
On July 19th, the streets and homes of Spain burst into euphoric celebration as the country’s national team defeated Argentina at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey to win the men’s FIFA…
Fernando PeinadoGuestMichael DivertHostJessica DavidsonGuestOmar EncarnacionGuest
Jerry HaddenGuestLooking at the euphoria that greeted Spain's victory in the World Cup last month, what do you think that says about the moment that the country is living through right now?
Well, by all signs, this has been an incredible event, both for the country as well as for the sport of football or soccer, as it may be.
The sense is, and we spoke about this briefly earlier, that this has meant much more for Spain this year than it did in 2010, when the country was in the midst of an economic crisis and the Catalan separatist crisis was basically over.
I think it's also been a way to highlight other aspects of that state other than sports, which are doing well.
I've seen several articles noting the sort of reemergence of Spanish cinema, for example, literature, food, tourism, which is booming.
that are making Spain more popular perhaps than ever before and that are improving the Spanish brand, let's put it that way.
And I was wondering if you could speak a little bit about how Spain has changed since then.
I mean, I think there's some people who have maybe a more outdated version of what Spain is, the composition of the Spanish team.
Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, Nico Williams, whose parents are from Ghana, might have been somewhat surprising.
So we can perhaps take those two things separately, right? On the first point, I already mentioned the mood of the country.
The country's politics, although somewhat toxic still, appear to be more or less under control.
And there's a sense that the country is no longer basically about to be full of it, as was the case in 2010.
Looking at the euphoria that greeted Spain's victory in the World Cup last month, what do you think that says about the moment that the country is living through right now?
Well, by all signs, this has been an incredible event, both for the country as well as for the sport of football or soccer, as it may be.
The sense is, and we spoke about this briefly earlier, that this has meant much more for Spain this year than it did in 2010, when the country was in the midst of an economic crisis and the Catalan separatist crisis was basically over.
I think it's also been a way to highlight other aspects of that state other than sports, which are doing well.
I've seen several articles noting the sort of reemergence of Spanish cinema, for example, literature, food, tourism, which is booming.
that are making Spain more popular perhaps than ever before and that are improving the Spanish brand, let's put it that way.
And I was wondering if you could speak a little bit about how Spain has changed since then.
I mean, I think there's some people who have maybe a more outdated version of what Spain is, the composition of the Spanish team.
Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, Nico Williams, whose parents are from Ghana, might have been somewhat surprising.
So we can perhaps take those two things separately, right? On the first point, I already mentioned the mood of the country.
The country's politics, although somewhat toxic still, appear to be more or less under control.
And there's a sense that the country is no longer basically about to be full of it, as was the case in 2010.
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