The Spanish football federation's president organised a special barbecue to raise the morale of the troubled Spain players, after last Saturday's 5-1 meltdown against the Netherlands at the World Cup.
That put the defending champions in a very difficult situation to qualify for the knockout stages, so Angel Maria Villar decided, with coach Vicente del Bosque, to cheer up the players.
Midfielder Cesc Fabregas admitted the opening rout was the worst moment for the team in the last six years.
After the barbecue, Villar - the boss of Spanish football since 1988 and normally a man who stays well in the background - gave the players a rare peptalk, saying that the team made an entire country happy, several times, and what happened against the Dutch was an accident.
