Elated Spaniards celebrate victory

Spain erupted with its biggest fiesta in memory yesterday when its football team returned to a jubilant nation after winning the World Cup, giving elated Spaniards a break from months of economic gloom and political squabbling.

Spain defeated the Netherlands, 1-0, in extra time Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands jammed Madrid's historic avenues as an open air bus ferried the national team down stately avenues to cheers from fans decked out in a sea of red and yellow, the colors of the Spanish flag.

The celebration in Madrid, where national unity is at its strongest, was expected. But there were striking examples of support from unlikely places: The well-off Catalonia region, which has long sought greater autonomy, and the separatist Basque region, where anything pro-Spain is often shunned.

The massive Madrid street party came after players visited Madrid's Royal Palace, normally used only for dreary state affairs. The team chatted and had drinks with King Juan Carlos, who hugged many players and gave coach Vicente del Bosque friendly punches on the cheek and the chest.

"You are an example of sportsmanship, nobility, good play and team work," said the king.

Team members then traveled to government headquarters, where they were greeted by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, ministers and hundreds of ecstatic children invited to the event.

"They won the cup but it belongs to all Spaniards," shouted a delighted Zapatero.

Goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas said the victory meant "Spain's name will be on top of the world for the next 4 years."

In Amterdam, the staff at Schiphol Airport formed an honor guard when the plane carrying the Netherlands' team touched down. The team was whisked by bus to a hotel on the North Sea coast.

A series of welcome-home events await today, including a meeting with Queen Beatrix at her palace in The Hague in the morning followed by a boat tour through Amsterdam's canals and a party in the city's Museum Square.

Players from the Netherlands and Spain should have behaved better during the World Cup final, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said.

"It was not exactly what we have, or what I have, expected for fair play on the field of play in the final," Blatter said at a news conference to mark the end of the tournament.

English referee Howard Webb showed 14 yellow cards - a record for a World Cup final - and one red for Dutch defender John Heitinga.

* World Cup television viewership rose 41 percent over 4 years ago for English-language telecasts in the United States, with Spain's victory over the Netherlands setting a record for a men's soccer game.

Sunday's game in Johannesburg was seen by 15,545,000 viewers on ABC, according to fast national ratings. The previous high was 14,863,000 viewers for the United States' 2-1 overtime loss to Ghana in the second round on June 26.

An additional 8,821,000 million viewers watched Spanish-language coverage Sunday on Univision, according to Nielsen Media Research, bringing the total to nearly 24.4 million.

ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 averaged a 2.1 rating, 2,288,000 households and 3,261,000 viewers for the 64 World Cup games. The rating was up 31 percent from a 1.6 four years ago, while households increased 32 percent from 1,735,000 and viewers rose from 2,316,000.

* Wolfgang Sidka, a German with coaching experience in the Persian Gulf, has agreed to become Iraq's national soccer coach. He will start at the end of the month and succeed Bora Milutinovic, a well-traveled Serbian who once coached the U.S. Sidka previously coached Bahrain and the Qatari clubs Al-Arabi and Al-Gharafa.