We're off and running with our World Cup 2010 recap. Here's what I saw and heard while tracking Spain for the first few days of their tournament, up to and including their first match against Switzerland.

• Why getting the right training camp counts.
• How to tame a dangerous Puyol in the wild.
• The Ali-Frazier nature of the series of matches between Vicente Del Bosque and Ottmer Hitzfeld, the two coaches, when they were in charge of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

And, of course, the game. A weird one, at the end of which Spain would know they had to make history if they were to add a world title to their European one.

All of this and a dance through the other games in the first round:

• Rob Green costs England
• Maicon scores a belter for Brazil
• Tshabalala starts the party.

• Want to read the whole story of how Spain on in 2008, 2010 and 2012? Find out about the book here:   https://backpagepress.co.uk/books/spain/ 

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