Final score: Spain 1, The Netherlands 0
International sports, World Cup football
Johannesburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - The game is over, except in the hearts of fans, who will continue to turn over every move and every decision by the referee, for days to come.
The big one has been decided: Spain beat The Netherlands 1-0 with a goal in the final minute to take the 2010 World Cup football title. It was a game between two evenly matched teams, but where yellow cards and bad tempers ruled the day. The match remained scoreless until 117 minutes into the game.
Nelson Mandela was another real winner: the former South African president rode around the stadium in a small vehicle for the closing ceremony, winning the hearts of the crowd.
In Geneva, Festifoot, organizers of the city’s official World Cup festival, announced Sunday that 250,000 football fans took advantage of the outdoor screen – at the Esplanade des Vernets – during the past four weeks.
Read GenevaLunch’s recap of the 2010 World Cup.
Links to other sites: BBC, El Pais (Spa), Guardian, Le Matin (Fre), TSR (Fre), Xinhua
Spain to the finals for the very first time. There will be a new World Champion on 11 July – Photo 2010 FWCLOC
International Sports, World Cup football
Durban, South Africa (GenevaLunch.com) - The 2010 World Cup will have a European winner, from a country that has not yet won the ultimate prize in football.
Carlos Puyol scored the only goal for Spain in the semi-final with Germany with a booming header direct from a corner kick. Spain controlled the game for most of the match but their intricate passing set up few chances against the young German team.
Germany had been the in-form team of the 2010 World Cup, scoring four goals against Australia, England and Argentina, but they generated few chances against the technically superior Spanish players.
In the end the result was a repeat of the Euro 2008 final, 1-0 for Spain.
The World Cup final on Sunday will be against the Netherlands who have twice before reached the finals: losing on both occasions to Germany.
Spain have never before reached the final.
Links to other sites: Fifa, Guardian
Follow GenevaLunch’s daily recap of the 2010 World Cup.
Dutch fan ecstatic - Photo 2010 FWCLOC
Dutch fan ecstatic - Photo 2010 FWCLOC
International sports, World Cup football
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - Uruguay is out, after The Netherlands won 3-2 Tuesday night 6 July. This is the third time Holland will fight for the World Cup title.
Now all eyes are focused on the next semi-final match, Germany against Spain tonight at 20:30.
Here’s the squad list and background; Fifa wants to know who you think will win.
Follow GenevaLunch’s daily recap of the 2010 World Cup.
Links to other sites: Fifa World Cup, Guardian on the Dutch in the finals
Argentina fans cheered for Maradona to take them to semi-finals but no one was able to help them against Germany - Photo 2010 FWCLOC
Argentina fans cheered for Maradona to take them to semi-finals but no one was able to help them against Germany - Photo 2010 FWCLOC
International sports, World Cup Football
Cape Town, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - Germany’s young team smashed their way past the stars of Argentina in the first of the Saturday 3 July quarter-final matches.
The Mannschaft combined teamwork, energy, organization and clinical finishing to notch up another four-goal win. The team also scored four against Australia and England in earlier rounds. Thomas Muller scored the first goal with a deflecting header after just three minutes; two goals came from Miroslav Klose and one from Arne Friedrich.
Spain vs Paraguay
In the other game Spain just managed to edge out Paraguay1-0 with a goal by David Villa in the 83rd minute. Spain will face Germany in the semi-finals on Wednesday 7 July, while the Netherlands meet Uruguay on Tuesday 6 July.
Links to other sites: Fifa, Telegraph
Follow GenevaLunch’s daily recap of the 2010 World Cup.
International sports, World Cup football
Spanish coach says earlier defeat by Switzerland was “motivating”
World Cup hopes ran high among Geneva's large Portuguese population (photo, ©2010 Peter Brodbeck)
Update 08:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The large Spanish and Portuguese populations in the Lake Geneva area were glued to screens last night, spending most of the match hoping something would happen.
Towards the end, after 64 minutes of play, it finally did: David Villa scored a goal for Spain, his fourth of the World Cup.
Portugal’s defense was mostly steady, with the Tiago-Pepe-Meireles triangle holding up well, but the team never really rose to the occasion, perhaps still sluggish after the match with Brazil which has been widely called the most boring of the series.
Portuguese fans streamed onto Geneva's streets after the match with Brazil: it may have been dull, but it kept them in the World Cup (photo, © 2010 Peter Brodbeck)
And, while Spain’s game also seemed mostly uninspired, its team appears up to the challenge of playing Paraguay Saturday. If Spain wins that one it will be in the semi-finals for the first time, a thrilling hope for a country that has long loved football.
Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque said before the match that the team’s defeat by Switzerland had served to motivate the Spanish. “That first stumble versus Switzerland has been highly motivating psychologically. The group knows our targets and we’re feeling fine.
”I don’t think a defeat is ever good. It was damaging to us and we were very anxious because we thought we were going to be facing many difficulties. I don’t think we had to learn any lessons, though, because this group is very humble and modest.”
Links to other sites: El Pais (Spa), Fifa, Guardian, Le Matin (Fre), Telegraph, UK
Click on images to view larger
The Parliament in Spain has voted to ratify labour reforms geared to lower unemployment in the country. Measures include promoting youth employment and cutting the cost of firing workers. The reform follows an austerity plan aimed at slashing the deficit of 11 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3 percent by 2013.
Switzerland is celebrating its historic win over Spain - Photo 2010 FWCLOC
Switzerland is celebrating its historic win over Spain - Photo 2010 FWCLOC
International Sports, World Cup Football
Update 18:20 Durban, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss football team got off to a flying start by beating the finest team of the last few years, 1-0.
Horns, Swiss-version vuvuzelas and more broke out in the normally more staid Geneva, Lausanne and other cities and towns.
Switzerland’s solid defense meant that even though the Spanish dominated possession there were few clear chances.
Switzerland took the lead when an old fashioned boot upfield led to a goalmouth scramble where the Swiss forwards powered past the Spanish defense.
Gelson Fernandes got the final touch on the ball after combining powerfully with fellow striker Erin Derdiyok. Switzerland then held against frantic but ill disciplined attacks.
The first major upset goes to Switzerland!!
Follow GenevaLunch’s daily recap of the 2010 World Cup.
Update 3 / 14 June Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss businessman Max Goeldi, freed from prison in Libya 10 June, is en route home to Switzerland, news agency AFP reports his lawyer as saying Sunday night, possibly via Tunis.
Switzerland and Libya signed a “plan of action” Sunday in Tripoli, with Germany and Spain also signatories, to end the diplomatic impasse between the Swiss and Libyan governments. Max Goeldi, Swiss businessman and ABB employee who has been held in Libya for nearly two years, is scheduled to fly home from Tripoli, via Madrid, Sunday. Goeldi’s prison sentence in Libya for visa irregularities has been at the centre of the diplomatic tussle that began with the arrest in Geneva in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of Libya’s leader.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa. She also met with Libya’s leader Muammar Qadaffi in his reception tent, along with Spanish leader Miguel Angel Moratinos and Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, as well as other European leaders.
The plan of action includes the following:
- a tribunal will be created to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi in July 2008, to which then-Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz agreed in principle in August 2009;
- Switzerland will offer Libya an official apology for the theft of a police mug shot of Hannibal Qadaffi from police files, and for their publication in the Tribune de Geneve newspaper, and those who stole the material will be prosecuted (it was revealed that a criminal case has already been opened);
- Max Goeldi’s request for a judicial pardon from Libya will be expedited.
TSR, Swiss public television, reports that Tripoli says Geneva has already paid CHF1.5 million euros to Hannibal Qadaffi, a sum that has not been verified and that runs counter to statements made earlier by Bern.
Swiss Secretary for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made the announcements about Goeldi’s flight home and the action plan as she came out of a meeting in Tripoli with her Libyan counterpart, Moussa Koussa.
Background, GenevaLunch
Alexander Frei Swiss captain hurt during training
(GenevaLunch) - Alexander Frei, captain of the Swiss football squad injured his ankle during the last training on Swiss territory, and might not be ready for the opener against Spain.
Frei, and the rest of the team, left for South Africa soon after the incident, but his sprained ankle might jeopardize his participation in the Switzerland-Spain match scheduled for 16 June.
If the Swiss want to qualify for the second round of the 2010 Fifa World Cup they must be in top shape to beat Spain, considered the top contender in the tournament, and Chile another strong opponent.
Germany celebrates third title at Eurovision - Photo Indrek Galetin (EBU)
[Videos] Oslo, Norway (GenevaLunch) - Germany’s 19-year-old Lena Meyer-Landrout is the new queen of the Eurovision 2010. The catchy, pop tune “Satellite”, sung in English, won the hugely popular European music contest 29 May.
While thousands celebrated in the streets of Germany, few celebrated in the UK. Josh Dubovie’s rendition of “That Sounds Good To Me,” was only able to gather 10 points, placing him last in the Eurovision final.
Ireland’s singer Niamh Kavanagh, a previous Eurovision winner, also failed to finish high up among the performers.
Switzerland’s votes went to Germany, Serbia and Albania.
Turkey came second in the Saturday night contest, followed by Romania.
Spain upstaged
Spain’s performance was disrupted by a Catalonian known as “Jimmy Jumper” who hopped on stage while Daniel Diges was singing “Algo Pequeñito”. The man, known for doing similar things in football games in Barcelona, was quickly detained.
The European Broadcasting Union, which produces Eurovision, ruled that Spain should have the right to sing again and Diges did so after the other performances had finished.
Spain finished 15th among the 25 competitors.
Video
And the winner is: Germany
International sports, Formula 1
Circuit de Catalunya, Spain (GenevaLunch) – Before the race began Mark Webber, the Australian Red Bull driver, was asked what he was hoping for: he replied that he wanted a boring race and that is what he delivered at the Spanish Grand Prix 9 May. In the first dry race of the season he lead from pole position to the end and was never challenged for the lead. Behind him it was more a question of the reliability of the cars than the skill of the drivers. Sebastian Vettel started second but fell back behind Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso as he had braking problems.
Hamilton crashed out with a puncture on the final lap when he was in second place. Alonso then took second for Ferrari, Vettel finished third. Michael Schumacher was fourth, his best finish since coming out of retirement. Jenson Button, the current champion, came fifth and retains a lead of three points from Alonso in the drivers’ championship.
Solar energy projects in Spain are being downsized and two major companies are holding off on plans to go public or sign new investment deals, as the country moves to reduce its energy liabilities. Solar energy is heavily subsidized, although most of that is passed directly on to customers. The Greek public debt crisis has Spain, along with other countries including Ireland and Portugal, worried about their own level of public debt and future liabilities. Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating 28 April. Spain, with long hours of sunlight, has one of Europe’s most developed solar energy programmes.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, New York Times, wikipedia
Head north, dear diners, and feast on musk ox and roast marrow, at the restaurant that now holds the coveted number one in the world slot, according to Britain’s Restaurant Magazine. Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, was bumped up to the top rating, beating out Spain’s revered elBulli which has been number one for four years running. Noma’s chef, 32-year-old Rene Redzepi formerly worked at elBulli and his restaurant has been working its way up the list. His cuisine is distinctly Nordic: forget about the olive oil.
In the restaurant’s own words: “What you will find here at noma is not centered so much on olive oil, foie gras, sun-dried tomatoes and Mediterranean black olives. We’ve been busy traveling around in the Nordic regions and we have been finding a number of simply phenomenal ingredients that we have flown into town for our use: Horse mussels, deep-sea crabs and langoustines from the Faeroe Islands, which are living right up until the moment they are served to our visitors. Halibut, wild salmon, cod and seaweed and curds from Iceland. Lamb, musk ox, berries and the purest drinking water from Greenland.”
ElBulli and Britain’s The Fat Duck both slipped a notch to second and third places.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, Restaurant Magazine
Federal authorities nab 11 as part of Europe-wide raids on Spain-based criminal group
Update 16:02 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss officials say they arrested 11 members of an Eastern European criminal group Monday. Several European governments Monday made simultaneous announcements about arrests in their countries of Georgian and Russian leaders who are members of a European-wide crime ring. The group has been based in Spain, where 24 people were arrested with a well-organized hierarchy: each country has a boss and regional managers. In all, 69 arrests have been made throughout Europe.
The Swiss public prosecutor has been leading the investigation into the group in this country since April 2009. The raids early Monday involved 120 federal and cantonal police as well as border guards. It netted some of the ringleaders, “dealing a serious blow to Georgian organized crime in Europe,” Bern announced in a press release.
Louis Majesty at sea (photo: Louis Cruise)
A Louis Cruise ship with 1,350 passengers and nearly 600 crew on board, the Louis Majesty, was hit by what the company has called “rogue waves” of up to eight metres, off the northeast coast of Spain. Two people were killed and six injured, with windows broken in the saloon and water taken on board. The ship has pulled into Barcelona, but will later continue its voyage to Genoa, Italy. The captain says there were winds up to 100kph in the area.
Links to other sites: BBC, El Pais (Spa), Louis Cruise
Strong Catholic Church opposition was not enough to defeat Spain’s new abortion law, which was passed by the parliament 132-126 Wednesday 24 February. The new law, which goes into effect in four months, allows women, starting at age 16, to have abortions without parental consent, and gives women the right to abortion on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, bringing Spain into line with its northern European neighbours on the matter.
Abortion was decriminalized in 1985, but only in cases of rape or when a woman’s life is in danger. The number of cases of abortion doubled in the decade that followed, according to government statistics.Opposition to the government’s proposal to liberalize the law has been strong, with thousands marching on the capital in October 2009 to protest.
Links to other sites:El Mundo (Spa), MSNBC, Latin American Herald
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The foreign ministers of Switzerland, Spain and Libya met Thursday 18 February in Madrid to discuss the impasse over the return of two Swiss citizens from Libya and the issue of visas not being issued to some Libyans. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss foreign minister, said after the meeting that “We have been working well” and the talks are continuing.
She is meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Libyan Foreign Minister Mousa Kousa. Spain is hosting the talks as the president of the European Union for 2010. Calmy-Rey also noted that she has had discussions in the past few days with several EU foreign ministers.
BMW Oracle team walking out to the boat Sunday 14 February before the race they won, taking the 33rd America's Cup sailing title (photo: ©2010 Guilain Grenier/BMW Oracle)
Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) - BMW Oracle has taken the America’s Cup sailing title, winning the second race Sunday 14 February almost as clearly as it won the first race two days earlier. The American boat finished 5.26 minutes ahead of Alinghi: Oracle’s technology, with its massive rigid sail, was the real winner. The race was close during the first leg but BMW Oracle pulled ahead and the winner was never in doubt.
Links to other sites: Alinghi, America’s Cup, BMW Oracle
Oracle, headed for a clear victory in race 1, America's Cup, 12 February (photo: BMW Oracle)
Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – The water and wind were fine at last on Friday, after days of waiting for sailing conditions off the coast of Valencia to be right for the America’s Cup race to begin. But once Alinghi and Oracle put their tall sails to work, American Oracle’s trimaran dominated the race and won neatly over the Swiss catamaran, finishing eight and a half minutes ahead.
The “wing”, as Oracle’s rigid mast has become known, put in a stellar performance, as did the boat’s aggressive crewing. Alinghi’s lead at the outset, due to a stalled start on Oracle’s part, faded, and by the top mark at the end of the 20 nautical mile upwind first leg Oracle was 3 minutes 21 seconds ahead. By the end of the race Oracle’s lead had more than doubled. Alinghi was hampered by a penalty turn handed out early in the race. The Swiss boat was expected to regain time in the down wind leg, but, Sail-World reports, “it was obvious that, in the soft conditions, Alinghi was at a disadvantage.”
Alinghi held a steady pace, but that was no match for Oracle’s performance on the second, downwind leg, and Alinghi’s finish was something of a shambles.
BMW Oracle Tuesday night in Valencia - waiting, waiting
Update / 2 13:05 Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) - The most that can be said about the America’s Cup sailing race is that it’s having trouble filling its sails, quite literally. The race between Swiss Alinghi and US BMW Oracle has been delayed until Friday at least 13:00, due to “leftover seas” from yesterday’s wind.
“The waves were the biggest problem. I think they were about 1.3m average size in the start area,” said Alinghi strategist Murray Jones. “That means we could’ve had a peak of 1.8m and that’s the biggest issue.
“There was a swell coming from one direction and waves from an offset of 90 degrees to that. We’ve been out in conditions not quite that bad, but it’s heinous. I think they’ve done the right thing by not sending us out there,” Jones said.
The race was scheduled to start Monday, but there was too little wind. The teams spent Wednesday morning at their bases, waiting to see which of two contradictory weather forecasts would win out: offshore or onshort breezes were predicted. In the end, they canceled each other out. Races are now scheduled for 12, 14 and 16 February.
Twiddling their thumbs: Alinghi and BMW Oracle wait for the America's Cup race to start (photo: ©2010 Gilles Martin-Raget/BMW Oracle)
Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – The America’s Cup sailing race, scheduled to begin Monday morning 8 February at 10:06, was postponed due to too little wind. By 10:20 the wind was rising from the southwest, but the tall masts of the two catamarans scheduled to race were forced to wait to show off their prowess. The world’s arguably most prestigious international racing cup pits Geneva-based Alinghi against San Francisco’s BMW Oracle.
The two have been sparring for months in courtrooms and now they move onto the water for the real battle, where new technology promises to be a key feature. The three-day fight for the cup is likely to be less gripping, notes Swiss television TSR, than the last America’s Cup in 2007. It lasted three months and had several participants, but which also was a tight and dramatic race between Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand.
The races can be followed live on the America’s Cup site and TSR online. Both teams are using Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to promote the race.
The race consists of:
the best of 3 races, as specified in the “Deed of Gift”, official founding document for the competition
• Race 1: Upwind-downwind 20 miles per leg
• Race 2: 39 nautical-mile equilateral triangle, first leg
• Race 3 (if necessary): Upwind-downwind 20 miles per leg.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle
Oracle vs Alinghi
© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
BMW Oracle on the water in Valencia 3 February
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – America’s Cup, the top international sailing event, may happen in Valencia after all, it appears, after months of legal battles between Alinghi and the challenger, BMW Oracle, threatened to sink the race. Remaining legal challenges, over such matters as Alinghi unilaterally setting the start time of the race at 10:06 Monday 8 February were put to rest by the International Jury Wednesday 3 February, which said yes, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) has the right to set the rules.
The five-person jury early Wednesday refused several challenges from BMW Oracle to what the SNG argues are its rights to set the rules. The Geneva-based SNG, home to Alinghi, holds the Deed of Gift, which traditionally gives the bulk of decision-making power to the defending champion.
Alinghi on the water in Valencia, 1 February 2010 (photo: ©2010 George Johns/Alinghi)
One of the BMW Oracle objections concerns dumping substances in the sea while racing. The jury refused the San Francisco-based team’s objections to rules for this, it emphasized that all applicable laws apply during the race.
Weather will ultimately determine if the race begins on time. The weather forecast for Monday and Tuesday: 8-20C, 20 percent chance of rain and winds picking up from 10kph Sunday night to 21-25kph.
Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle
Alinghi sailing near Valencia 21 January 2010 (photo: GJ, Alinghi)
Left to right: Ricardo Peralta, Spanish government delegate; Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi team president; Alec Tournier, SNG general secretary; Rita Barberá, the mayor of Valencia and Vicente Rambla, vice-president Valencia regional government (Photo: Alinghi)
New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – New York Justice Shirley Kornreich told Geneva-based Alinghi and San Francisco sailing team BMW Oracle Friday in a telephone conference call Friday 29 January that she will not rule on the legality of sails used by Alinghi in the America’s Cup sailing race before the scheduled start to the competition.
The America’s Cup, generally considered the most prestigious race in the sailing world, is scheduled to be raced in 10 days in Valencia, Spain.
Kornreich has presided over a series of legal battles that have threatened the race since Alinghi won the last one in July 2007.
Alinghi promptly announced that the race “is free to proceed as ordered by previous New York rulings: in Valencia on the 8, 10 and 12 February.”
Spain has agreed to Argentina’s request to extradite Dutch-Argentinian citizen Julio Alberto Poch, an airline pilot who is accused of having dumped bodies in the sea, from the air, under Argentina’s military regime, 1976-83. Poch was arrested in Valencia in September 2009, while working as a pilot for Dutch company Transavia. The flights, which he denies being part of, were known as the junta’s “death flights” and are alleged to have been linked to the disappearance of many of the 30,000 people who went missing under the regime’s rule.
BMW-Oracle says Alinghi's sails not made in Switzerland
Update 18:35 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – America’s Cup challenger BMW-Oracle and defender Alinghi are set to go back to court in New York after negotiations broke down in Singapore 12 January. The two sailing teams and their boats are in Valencia, Spain to contest sailing’s oldest and most prestigious race, a best of three meets that begins 8 February. Final details of the rules for the races are under discussion, but a sticking point lately has been the source of Alinghi’s sails.
BMW-Oracle maintains that Alinghi’s sail, made in the USA, violates the Deed of Gift’s stipulation that the boat be entirely built in the country the team represents, in this case Switzerland, home of the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG). The Deed of Gift is the document that lays down the ground rules for the 159-year-old race. Alinghi says bluntly that BMW-Oracle has it wrong.
Alinghi in November 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sailing’s biggest race might just happen after all: Alinghi and the Société Nautique de Genève have published the draft Sailing Instructions and Notice of Race for the 33rd American’s Cup. The race opens 8 February in Valencia, Spain. The two published draft documents have been sent to the BMW Oracle team, against whom Alinghi is expected to race. The two have been locking in legal battles for several months over a number of issues, including the size and other details for the boats.
The draft Notice of Race provides details for the boats in section 7.
Draft Sailing Instructions, America’s Cup 2010 and Notice of Race
BMW Oracle left California 15 December for Valencia, Spain
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Alinghi sailing team is preparing to defend its World Cup title in the chilly winter waters of Valencia, Spain in 2010, following a decision Tuesday 15 December by a panel of New York Supreme Court judges to uphold an earlier decision. A judge ruled 30 October against the choice by Société Nautique de Genève’s of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates for the next America’s Cup. The four-judge panel also upheld an earlier decision to exclude rudders from the measurement of the load waterline length of the race yacht.
Alinghi will face BMW Oracle in February 2010 in Valencia. The BMW team, based in San Francisco, left California Tuesday for Valencia, to start preparing for the race.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle
Voters in 166 pro-independence towns and villages in Catalonia voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Spanish state Sunday 13 December, but only 27 percent of those who could vote actually did so. The organizers of the symbolic, non-binding vote played up the result in Spain’s wealthiest region, which boasts its own language, culture, and the city of Barcelona.
Participation fell far short of the 49.4 percent in the 2006 referendum on the statute governing relations between the central government and Catalonia, already largely autonomous.
Barcelona, Spain (GenevaLunch) - Spain confirmed its place at the top of the tennis world with a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic in the final of the Davis Cup on the clay courts of Barcelona. Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer won the singles on Friday to give the Spanish a 2-0 lead and their doubles team of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco finished the task on Saturday.
Links to other sites: Davis Cup, Eurosport/Yahoo
