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     • SPU Visits Spain preview story

DAY THREE:  Visit to La Ciudad del Fútbol & La Liga Match
August 8, 2015

Saturday many of us had quite an early morning. The nine-hour time difference made it quite difficult to sleep through the evening. I ended up waking up around 5:00 a.m. and many of my teammates also struggled to stay asleep.

Eventually everyone met for breakfast at 9:00 a.m., and then relaxed until noon. At noon we departed as a group to La Ciudad del Fútbol, which is the Spanish National Team Facility.

The facility is amazing. We were able to dine in the hall that the National Team has all of their meals. I hoped that I was sitting in one of the chairs that my hero, Iker Casillas, may have sat in.

After lunch, we toured the facility. We were able to see the signed jersey from the 2010 World Cup Champions. We then visited the fields that the national team trains on, we were specifically told to stay off of the grass.

Our tour guide Jaime had us follow him into the Museum of Soccer that is on campus. It was a soccer Mecca. They had the actual World Cup trophy from the 2010 tournament.

If you haven't caught on yet, Spain had won the cup in 2010. It was a big deal due to it being the first time that the great soccer nation had held the title of World Champions.

We also had the pleasure of seeing soccer memorabilia from the last few hundred years. Some of the old "cleats" were just leather shoes with no studs. There were numerous paintings of famous players, and great moments in Spanish soccer history.

Finally at La Ciudad del Fútbol we trained for about an hour and a half. Once again the conditions were painfully hot.

To wrap up the evening we attended a La Liga soccer game as a team. It was premier club Rayo Vallecano vs. Real Oviedo of the second division. They drew 1-1, but since it was the Summer Cup competition, immediately after regulation there was a penalty kick tiebreaker won 4-3 by Oviedo.

All in all, day three of Spain, was without a doubt an unforgettable experience.

Thanks for reading my blog about the trip and I will post another entry soon,

-- Shamele