all good things have to come to an end…*

The latest trip is over, and it’s time to say hasta luego to our boys as a team for two months.  However, we do get to say hola to La Rojita!

The national team – with the exception of Iker, Fernando Llorente and David Silva, who stayed behind in Venezuela – returned to Madrid yesterday afternoon from Caracas, after an eight-hour flight (before that, they had a 30-minute Barcelona-Caracas flight).  We got to see most of the players in street clothes again (there were some exceptions, such as Sergio, Carlos, Joan, Bruno…), which is not necessarily a good thing…

Xabi was his usual boss self, while striding through the airport, Macbook in hand, and David and Pedro repeated parts of the outfits they showed up at Las Rozas wearing.  Meanwhile, Joan and Carlos settled some money issues, Gerard wore his Steve McQueen shirt (unfortunately, Álvaro didn’t wear his matching one) and Víctor looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than the airport – that’s quite a David Villa expression he has on!

If VV learned that from David, then Sergio learned to carry a purse from Iker.  And whatever he bought at Apple must be really precious to him, because he hasn’t let it out of sight the entire week, not even putting it in his suitcase!  Meanwhile, Álvaro was looking great in his tee and sunglasses, just like Xabi, looking effortlessly cool back there.

I love this moment when Álvaro looked to the right, and as a result looked just like the image on his shirt.  And do you think that Manu got overly excited about this adventure and decided to wear as much La Roja stuff as he could find, in case he never got called up again?  By the way, for those of you who don’t read my Madrid blog, Raúl Albiol is getting married next Friday (June 17) in Valencia!

I mentioned David’s cuffed shorts earlier, and here are two more victims of that unfortunate trend, Fernando Torres and Santi Cazorla.  Santi’s shorts are very, very unfortunate (ooooh, I must also hate Santi too, since I’m insulting his clothes, no?  But seriously, have you ever seen a more adorable bajito?).

The best part was seeing the players say goodbye.  Here, we have Capdevila, Torres, Villa, Cazorla, Piqué, Sergio, Bruno hugging and kissing each other.  By the way, Gerard stroked Sergio’s hair while saying goodbye.  I love it!  I mean, who hasn’t thought about doing that, especially since his hair usually looks silky, glossy, soft and touchable?

The next time some of them will see each other will be during the second week of August, when Spain plays a friendly in Italy.  Hopefully, in the meantime, we’ll see some of them vacationing with each other, just like last year, no?

As for the others, Iker flew to Mexico City (that’s him upon arrival, below) to give a football clinic to children today.  He’ll also stop by Monterrey on Friday to do the same.  Presumably, Fer and David are also vacationing in the area – my bet is a return to the United States, because Fer has been taking English lessons, and David needs to continue to do so!

Meanwhile, for all those of you who got to watch La Roja play this time in Boston, and for all that didn’t, there may be another chance this year.  There are rumors (bear in mind that nothing is official yet) that La Roja could play a game against one of the South American powerhouses in New York in September, since the RFEF still has Sept. 15 free.  Originally, they were trying to close out a deal to play in China, but things have been complicated and so they’re looking for an alternative.

* but luckily, we have the U-21 Euro to look forward to.  Or at least I’m excited about it – I think you know why!!!

On the subject of the U-21 team, they held their last training session at Las Rozas on Tuesday afternoon, and both (por favor) Juan Mata and Iker Muniain trained normally.  David de Gea was the only absence (and Dídac Vilà, who was in Barcelona attending to some personal problems, is the only absence from this group photo).

During their time at Las Rozas, the U-21 team also got to meet with their official sponsors, who wished them luck in the upcoming tournament.  Representatives from Prima and Chevrolet came to encourage the boys, and each received a signed shirt from the hands of the captain, Javi Martínez (!!!).  They all then posed for a foto de familia.  I love seeing Javi (!!!) carry out his captain duties!

The team traveled to Silkeborg, Denmark (their headquarters for the Euro) yesterday morning via Copenhagen and Aarhus.  Javi Martínez (!!!) told the press shortly before that that he’s going in with “the same excitement and hope as before the World Cup.”  The captain explained, “we’ve spent a lot of time qualifying for the Euro, and we’ve experienced some bad moments in qualifying.  That’s why the final phase is a reward for these two years of work.  Both Mata and I were in the World Cup, and we both hope to win the Europeo.”  He also said that the team is in a good moment and very confident.

Seeing Javi (!!!) with a book in hand makes me happy!!

More from the airport.  I prefer the shirts that the senior team wears, but those with lighter hair do look very good in this light blue color, no?

Meanwhile, Álvaro wrote “Domin” on his bag to differentiate it from everyone else and make identification easier, and Javi (!!!) popped his collar.  I’m not a fan of that look.  Put it down, Javi (!!!)!

Diego Mariño was overly concerned first about his hair, and then about his nose.  And Iker and Víctor Ruíz filmed this little message for the fans, though Iker only let Víctor get one word in, though it is an effective one – “podemos.”

La Rojita’s first game is this Sunday against England at 20:45h.  It looks like they’re adjusting to Denmark just fine, judging by this ferocious ping pong game between Thiago and Juanín, as tweeted by Ander Herrera.  The tweet after that informed us that the winner was Thiago.