Ávila honors Iker & Paco

The strange shape of the award – maybe this is a special characteristic of Ávila? – makes you appreciate the simplicity of the World Cup more.

Iker traveled to Ávila yesterday to receive an award presented at the Ávila Sports Gala for his performance in the World Cup.  Iker’s famly is from the province, which is why he said last night, “I feel abulense (refers to a person from Ávila) because my family is from here, and I want you all to know that each time I come here, I am abulense.”  Also honored was Paco Jiménez, Vicente del Bosque’s assistant, as he is also from the province, concretely El Borraco.  Fun fact: Paco used to be Iker’s coach, during Iker’s time on Madrid’s infantil team.  During the gala, they showed a little video message that Vicente del Bosque filmed for his two men.  And as you can see, the World Cup traveled with Iker and Paco to the city.

Thoughts on Iker’s outfit?

I’m not too sure that the dark-colored collar works; it reminds me of his club jersey and I don’t like that particular feature of it.  They reminded me of fangs and this does too.  But overall, Iker doesn’t look too bad (I’m using his scale to judge him, not Xabi’s scale), and there was no evidence that his purse made the trip with him, which is a cause for celebration in and of itself.  I am also extremely fascinated by the female presenter’s hair!  How much product do you think was used to make her hair stay up like that?  And speaking of hair, Iker did a good job fluffing his up last night, no?

And a couple up-close shots of Iker, including that perfect profile of his, and those smile lines that I love so much.

Bottom left: that’s how I usually look at Iker too.

And to prove that Paco was there, since most of the media attention went to Iker:

And how adorable is this picture, taken seconds after the one above?

In other La Roja news, Spain has retained its number one FIFA country ranking.  It has not budged from the top of the list since winning the World Cup last July.

Only two weeks to go before Spain’s next game, on March 25 against the Czech Republic!  To remind you, it’s a Euro 2012 qualifier, and will take place at the Los Cármenes stadium in Granada.  Tickets will go on sale one week before, on March 16, and can only be purchased at the stadium’s ticket offices.  The national team will also receive city’s medal of honor on March 15.