Anyone know why they refer to the Spanish team as "La Roja"? That means, literally, "The Red". Is it because their shirts are (oftentimes, but not always) red? Sometimes their shirts are blue.

Saludos, MadridMan

the real nickname is "la furia roja"
i assume it was years ago and they wanted to seem fierce going into battle?
all football teams are given nickmames (well in britain they do)
Bolton is the trotters in referance to a pig being mascot years ago, everton are the toffees due to the everton mint being made there, ipswich are called the tractor boys de to the srrounding area being farmland.
but to answer your question in full i honestly dont know

Decisions have to be made about the shirt colours . If the opposing team´s colours are red then FIFA ( the governing body )have to decide on which team gets to wear their normal colours . Which is why Spain sometimes wears the dark blue .
I have my official red shirt for Spain but , for example , my Real Madrid shirt ( Raúl ) is their away colours .. dark blue also .
I bought a copy of " Marca" today ( Daily Spanish sports newspaper ) .. The whole front page is Red and yellow and the headlines are great : " Una Vez más el Pulpo Paul acertó en sus pronósticos " and " LOS MEJORES DEL MUNDO ( Y el domingo campeones del mundo ) "

I dont know about yall but there was something about 'La Furia Roja" playing the semi on San Fermin's day that gave me a sense of security,,, I envisioned the Spanish players charging and mauling away,,, hahaha, and it kinda happen in a futbolistic type of way...

sundays final will be refereed by Harold Webb the policeman from England, good ref this mon, there will be no diving or cheating this sunday, he will stamp it out, so the right result either way will be the outcome even though it will be Spain.
(and i predict that not Paul)
wonder if i will become a celebrity if i get it right?

"El Pulpo Paul", according to this video" - choosing Spain over Holland in the World Cup Final - is actually from Germany. I thought he was from England?

Saludos, MadridMan

oh yes the lads definately English

Paul was hatched from an egg at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, England, then moved to a tank at one of the chain's centres in Oberhausen, Germany.

An octopus,a referee, two linesmen, England is well represented in the world cup finals this year,just need the brass band and we would have a full set
another thing i found strange was the ref and linesmen were given only ONE match ticket each for the game,and seeing as they were only appointed on friday,on sky sports it showed Webbs father scrambing at the airport to catch a plane to the game, and thinking his son had no chance of refereeing the game had only come back from South Africa on the wednesday

Weymouth is just along the coast from where my mum lives in East Sussex ...She lives near to a fishing town so I may have to source the octopus down by the fishing huts .
I think the brass band would be drowned out by the horns !
Anyway it would be amazing if Spain win !

Billy, do you have eight arms?
Good article in English version of El Pais this morning - from what I know, the stats sure favor 'La Furia Roja"

http://www.elpais.com/misc/herald/herald.pdf

La Roja is new, it used to be the Furia Española, then the Red=roja, but before that Chile was the roja even its national beer is call like that.
I like Furia better ::)
furia= hurry ,velocity and vigor used in the performance of a thing.