FOOTBALL IN SPAIN
The pang of nostalgia will be unmistakable: from the
very start of the tournament we will all remember the
hot and humid days of previousWorld Cups.We were
then students, implausibly thin and always hungry,
with our loyalties divided between university exams
and the national football side. Divided? ‘Yeah, right’:
we ended up watching the most uneventful matches
with the excuse that one of the sides could play
against Spain at the next round, the books in a corner,
the breeze of the night coming in through the balcony.
Things have not changed: you may not suffer any
longer when your team loses in the Liga and you may
deride the single-mindedness that players and fans
exhibit; but, on Spanish standards, you are a bit weird
if you do not get nervouswhenSpain is on the verge of
getting through or getting knocked out (especially
when the whole thing is decided on a penalty
shoot-out – howcan they do it, Imean, to kick the ball
within target under such phenomenal pressure?). If
suffering or rejoicing for the same thing is what
transforms a group of geezers into a nation then we
are a nation, no doubt.
THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY
The Spanish economy is doing well, thanks: to know
more about it please read the last European
Economics Analyst. Macroeconomics is a curious
subject: by modelling the aggregate behaviour of
agents one gets results that neither the agents nor the
economists were aware. Advancements in
economics always required two things: a basic
insight and a set of simplifying assumptions. So in the
benefit of humankind let’s play a bit with a couple of
insights and assumptions and see what happens.
If we use the suffering/rejoicing test, it is clear that
Euroland is not a nation but, rather, a convenientway
of organizing money matters. It is also clear, I think,
that theECBis not a football team. For the sake of the
argument, however, let’s imagine that Euroland is a
nation and the ECB a football team. Things now
become easier to understand. For example, it takes
some time for a newteam to get their act together and
to play like that, like a team. In its early years
FrankfurtEZBwas a playground team, all its juvenile
players, even the goalkeeper, chasing the ball
simultaneously. Some time and some goals against
later, skipper Duisenberg, a tall Dutchman expert in
headers, put down his foot, said ‘I’mthe skipper, it ‘s
my ball and I pass it if I want to’ and some order
returned to the side. Well done, because the worst
thing that can happen to someone with authority is
not to use it.
Another advantage in this way of looking at the ECB
regards new players and transfers. Solid defender
Noyer is leaving at the end of the season and the
owners of the club have been busy looking for a
replacement. They had a long lunch recently in
Barcelona, one with brandy and cigars, and they are
The World Cup and Economics 44 World Cup 2002
THE 2002 WORLD CUP
There is something encouraging in being called
‘the perennial underachievers’, a sort of implicit
acknowledgement that the Spanish side is always a
potential winner and that, having always been
among the favourites, it is a question of time, or
even of justice, for our lads to bring home the
elusive trophy. As Don Quixote said in his
delightful lectures to Sancho Panza ‘it is
impossible for good or evil to last for ever; and
hence it followsthat the evil having lasted long, the
good must be now nigh at hand’.
So, is this the year of Spain? Yes, in fact it’s been
always the year of Spain: good players abound and
the side has shown, at least in theWorld Cups in the
US and France, order and clarity.What is missing
then?Well, the first match, the damned first match.
Spain has the habit of going through the
pre-tournament play-offs with flying colours and,
come the first match of the real thing, look bloated,
slow and exasperating. It recovers in the second
match, when excellence and will to win reappear -
but the second match is usually too late.Were they
to show a bit of fury from the very start it’s clear
that Spainwould take the Cup home. And ifwe do
not, who cares, next time, there are more days than
sausages, let the sun dawn on Antequera...We will
still beamongthe best sides in theworld (and don’t
ask for reasoned arguments, you contemptible
scoundrel - it was Don Qixote who also said ‘But
why do I argue thus? Does a bold determination
stand in need of arguments? Surely not’.)
said to have set their eyes on a young Greek player.
They are already looking forward to the next lunch in
which they’ll have to decide who replaces
Duisenberg, the skipper and seasoned striker.
Frenchman Trichet, who plays as midfielder and has
won praised for his no-nonsense approach to football,
seems the natural successor.At any rate, it is not easy
to find world-class players. Aware of this and of the
class and talent of Swedish, Danish and British
footballers, the rich owners of EZB Frankfurt have
opened doors and rolled down red carpets for them
several times, only to get a respectful cough and a
‘thank you but not yet’.As a result, it seems the search
has shifted eastwards.
STATE OF THE NATION
Perhaps Spain, as a nation, is not doing as well as it
used to but is not doing too bad either. For more on
this please refer to the same source quoted above.
Because our incursion in basic economics is taking us
to unsuspected philosophical depths and it is not time
to argue if Spain could be doing better than it is. ‘Is it
possible a currency without state?’ they say the
English chopper George, known at home as Steady
Eddie, asked EZB Frankfurt Duisenberg. The
Dutchman had to bring the ball to the ground and
pulled himself together before looking into George’s
eyes intensely; and he asked ‘Is it possible a central
bank with four different football teams?’. Steady
Eddie lost a bit of his steadiness and went away
wondering what that question could mean, a sign he
was not aware of the latest research, both theoretical
and experimental. Because, unknown to many, we at
Goldman Sachs had put theory to the practice and
organized a football tournament last spring during a
Department retreat near London, in which EZB
Frankfurt was put to the test. The synergies among
nations proved to be a success and the team won not
without difficulties.
Previous Appearances: 10
1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990,
1994, 1998
Honours
Semifinalists: 1950 (4th)
Hosts: 1982
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