Spain end 44 years of hurt

2:05am Tuesday 1st July 2008

FORMERLY the bridesmaid, finally the bride. After 44 years of hurt - two more, incidentally, than the spell endured by England - Spain finally boasts a footballing triumph commensurate with its talent.

A litany of missed opportunities was forgotten as soon as Iker Casillas lifted the Henri Delaunay Trophy above his head in Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium, and Spain's status as Europe's great under-achievers was banished. There are no prizes for guessing who now inherits that crown.

Their success has been hailed as a victory for football, but in truth it is more of a triumph for perseverance. And as England prepare to embark on their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, Spain's Euro 2008 victory should provide irrefutable proof of what is possible.

A succession of previous failures is not a barrier to future success. Spain travelled to Austria and Switzerland saddled with the baggage of countless tournament let-downs, yet overcame their mental hang-ups so successfully they rarely looked anything but winners from the moment they swept aside Russia in their opening game.

Even more pertinently from England's perspective, they even managed to win a penalty shoot-out along the way despite a record that was every bit as embarrassing as the one that haunts this country.

If Spain can finally break their hoodoo, it is not too great a leap of faith to imagine England doing the same.

Similarly, if Spain boss Luis Aragones can meld a cohesive unit from highly-paid professionals who play for some of the biggest club sides in the world, there is no reason why Fabio Capello should not be able to achieve similar success with England's so-called superstars.

England's failure to qualify for the championships was widely interpreted as another nail in the coffin of international football. If Rio Ferdinand is able to enjoy Champions League success with Manchester United, why should he give up his summer holiday to represent his country? If Wayne Rooney is earning £110,000-a-week with his club side, why should he play for England for next to nothing?

It's a tempting argument when it comes to explaining away recent failures, but it has surely been demolished once and for all by the attitude displayed by Spain's players in this month's competition.

Casillas is a two-time Champions League winner, yet he was still fighting back tears as he waited to receive the European Championship trophy. Carles Puyol has won two La Liga titles, but the Barcelona centre-half still gave everything he had for his country.

The profile of European club competition has increased markedly in recent years, but to hear Cesc Fabregas describe Sunday as "the best day of his life" was to receive concrete clarification of the enduing emotional impact of international football.

England's players need not be immune to that emotion, it just requires a manager skilful and astute enough to channel it into a momentum that is powerful enough to sustain a run through both a qualifying campaign and a major competition.

The hope, of course, is that Capello does exactly that. Having watched the tournament at first hand, England's new manager will admit he has problems.

If 4-1-4-1 is the formation of the future - and Euro 2008 has suggested it is - Capello desperately needs to find a striker capable of leading the line in the manner of Fernando Torres. Rooney is a talent, but is neither disciplined nor fast enough to spearhead an attack by himself.

Capello is also in need of a top-notch goalkeeper. For all their attacking talent, Spain won Euro 2008 because Casillas made an incredible reflex save from Italian midfielder Mauro Camoranesi and excelled in a subsequent penalty shoot-out. It is hard to imagine David James, Scott Carson or Joe Hart doing the same.

Yet for all his selection headaches, Capello will have returned to England harbouring a cautious optimism ahead of September's qualifiers with Andorra and Croatia.

Spain have proved that history can be a spur rather than a hindrance, and confirmed that a squad comprising players from some of the leading clubs in the world should be more than a match for opponents drawn from Europe's lesser leagues.

By the time the next World Cup comes around, it will have been 44 years since England last tasted success in a major competition. Suddenly, though, that number appears to have a rather nice ring to it as attention begins to turn to South Africa.