And Spain beats Paraguay 1-0 tonight. Whew! That was close. David Villa scored with 7 minutes left in regulation time. Again, WHEW!!

Saludos, MadridMan

What a relief! I and everyone in the neighborhood went absolutely crazy when the first goal was scored on the penalty kick - ONLY TO HAVE IT TAKEN AWAY by the official for an infraction during the kick. Funny, the next actual goal by Spain didn't raise as much commotion in the street.

Wednesday is "THE BIG GAME" against tough Germany, a Cinderella Story, they are. That match up may well be the real World Cup Final, possibly being the two toughest teams together but we'll never know for sure.

Saludos, MadridMan

great game from Saint Casillas and great goal from Villa, the best combination. We were jumping high over here at a spanish resto El Toro Borracho in Paris.

Now vs Germany, easy
the difference will be Casillas and goal from Villa,
Spain 1 Germany 0

for consolation, Spain cant do no worse than 4th , the best performance in a World Cup since 1950, and it could be better ::)

Aupa España!!!

Man, I'M NERVOUS!! Roughly 3 hours from now the match-of-the-century (likely the two best teams playing - sorry, Holland!) will begin. I can't wait! GOOD LUCK, SPAIN!!!

And yes, I did see the video report about the "all seeing octopus" about how it chose, UNDERWATER, the Spanish flag over the German flag, appropriately predicting tonight's winner. I guess that settles it, then. Why bother playing, Germany??

Going to try to order a TelePizza - along with the rest of the neighborhood. Wonder how that's go over - and if the pizza will arrive at all.

Saludos, MadridMan

Seems the game is not televised locally in Spain on public/free TV, only on satellite. Lucky for me I have that.

Starts in just a few minutes, Telepizza has been delivered, beer's in the freezer chilling-up/out, and honking horns begin their pre-game song in the street below.

GO SPAIN!! Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks to steve robinson, I found the game IS televised locally on public/free TV on TeleCinco. Whew! My satellite feed on the channel covering the game went black after 2 minutes. Maybe it's Pay-Per-View? Wouldn't think so since it's on local TV.

HALF TIME, 0-0. Spain's playing VERY well. In fact, 90% of the game has been played on Germany's side of the field. Hope the second half goes equally as well and we slip-in a goal ... OR THREE!

Saludos, MadridMan

Congratulations Spain!
Party on all .... we deserve it!
and bless that octopus

HAIL OCTOPUS PAUL!!! Congratulations, Spain! You deserved to beat Germany tonight 1-0. Now on to meet the Holland (?!??!?!!?) on Sunday.

The neighborhood went absolutely crazy with Pujol's header into the net from the corner kick. It's so great to experience this.

Saludos, MadridMan

I was reading this mornings report of the match on Sky News .. which strangely said that Torres had been dropped from the team and yet he did appear on the pitch for a while .... but on the message board for the report there was a comment that I loved : "Damned octopus it put them off their game and i had money on Germany to win. Anybody know any good seafood recipies for the eight legged traitorous cephalopod " jejejejeje .

The Dutch fans are great . Everyone loves the Dutch people . It should be an amazing final .

The fact that Su majestad La Reina Sofia was at the game was a big boost . I loved the brief interview with her when she punched the air and said " Vamos España ! " . And Look what she was wearing .. A red suit with a yellow scarf .. the colours of the Spanish flag !!!!

It´s 2pm here and absolutely hilarious !! TVE1 ( Spain´s national TV station ) showed a collage of yesterday's match using the famous song " Viva España " in German !!!!!!!!!! Fantastic stuff !!

Surely Juan Carlos and Sofia will be staying in South Africa for the Final: Spain vs. Netherlands.
The Nederlander Royalty were present in Durban yesterday for the Espana-Alemania semi final.