{"id":155866,"date":"2026-09-04T04:55:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/pau-gasol-remembers-spains-historic-gold-at-the-2006-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T04:55:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:55:52","slug":"pau-gasol-remembers-spains-historic-gold-at-the-2006-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/national\/pau-gasol-remembers-spains-historic-gold-at-the-2006-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Pau Gasol remembers Spain&#8217;s historic gold at the 2006 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pau Gasol recalls Spain&#8217;s historic 2006 World Cup victory<\/h2>\n\n<p>Two decades have passed since one of the most iconic feats in Spanish sports. Pau Gasol, a global basketball legend, has commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the first world championship won by Spain in Saitama, Japan, an event that marked a turning point for the national discipline.<\/p>\n\n<p>Despite having reached the top, the tournament had a bittersweet taste for the then-team leader. During the final stages of the semifinal against Argentina, Gasol suffered a foot fracture that kept him off the court for the decisive gold medal match against Greece.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unconditional support from the bench<\/h3>\n\n<p>Far from retiring to rest, the power forward stood firm alongside his teammates. With the help of crutches and overcoming physical difficulties, Gasol experienced the final from the bench, fulfilling a role of emotional leadership that was key for the group.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">Today marks 20 years since The Family touched the sky in Saitama. I didn&#8217;t play a single minute, but it remains one of my favorite games. A memory for a lifetime.<\/p>\n<cite>Pau Gasol on the 2006 final<\/cite>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The legacy of a golden generation<\/h3>\n\n<p>For Gasol, that match against Greece remains in his memory as one of the most unique and special of his career. The former player highlighted that, despite his physical absence on the court, the coaching staff and the rest of the team made him feel fully integrated into the title conquest.<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Spain achieved its first basketball world title in 2006.<\/li><li>The victory consolidated a historic generation of Spanish players.<\/li><li>Gasol&#8217;s commitment, even while injured, was a fundamental pillar for the group&#8217;s unity.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<p>This anniversary not only celebrates a trophy, but the cultural impact of a team that transformed the perception of basketball in Spain, consolidating a legacy that endures to this day in the memory of all fans.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pau Gasol recalls Spain&#8217;s historic 2006 World Cup victory Two decades have passed since one of the most iconic feats in Spanish sports. Pau Gasol, a global basketball legend, has commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the first world championship won by Spain in Saitama, Japan, an event that marked a turning point for the national [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12809],"tags":[389,11957,15117,522],"class_list":{"0":"post-155866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-pau-gasol","10":"tag-saitama","11":"tag-world-cup"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}