European champions Spain have boosted their status as one of the favourites for the 2010 World Cup by taking their qualifying group by storm.
”We have eight wins out of eight and not many teams have managed that,” said midfielder Cesc Fabregas after Spain’s 3-0 thrashing of Estonia, which booked their passage to South Africa.
Used to success in European club competitions through Real Madrid and Barcelona, the national team finally broke its spell by taking Euro 2008.
Spain’s first trophy in a major international tournament has served as a trigger for further success.
Now they hope to copy France — which followed their World Cup victory in 1998 by taking Euro 2000 — by doing the ‘double’, after qualifying for the ninth consecutive time for the World Cup, a competition in which they have yet to pass the quarterfinal stage.
The team enjoys myriad individual talents, all working for a common purpose — keeping possession, stunning the opposition with their fast pace … before delivering the death blow.
It has now become less a question of ‘if Spain will win’ than by ‘how many goals’.
The engine is formed by two Barcelona teammates — Xavi Hernandez, the metronome, and the impish Andres Iniesta, backed by Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Marcos Senna and Sergi Busquets.
Up front Valencia’s David Silva has almost supernatural connection with his Valencia teammate David Villa, and then there’s Liverpool star Fernando Torres.
World class keeper Iker Casillas, captain Carles Puyol, the inexhaustible Sergio Ramos and the new ‘Catalan wall’ Gerard Pique make up the backline.
Coach Vincente del Bosque has seamlessly followed Luis Aragones, the architect of the current team who stepped down after the Euro 2008 triumph in Vienna.
The former Real Madrid coach has managed to bring in 10 new players to the squad without changing the basic formula.
The only hiccup so far: a surprise defeat by the United States in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in June.
The US managed to strangle the Spanish midfield, in what could be a lesson for Spain’s opponents in South Africa next year.
And after a marathon season in which many of the players will likely have taken part in the final stages of the European Champions League, it must asked whether they will really be at their best. — AFP
