How Spain became more Spain than ever before

ON Wednesday, the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium will witness a slice of history.

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

Spain players celebrate their semifinal win over Argentina on Sunday

(PTI)

The junior men’s World Cup final will feature the Spanish team for the first time in the competition’s 46-year-old history. For a country that’s hockey royalty — the senior team has medalled at the Olympics and the senior World Cup — it’s the one thing missing in their rich trophy cabinet.

It’s kind of why this Spain team is already being hailed ‘as one of the best young groups of all time’. But there’s no secret to what has fuelled this side’s rise to the top table among juniors. If anything, they have just been more Spain than Spain has ever been before.