In footballing terms, the Spanish and English national teams have litle in common. English sides are famous for their fighting spirit, their workrate and, traditionally, their long-ball game. In contrast the Spanish are known for their flair, and trickery. However, there are two traits which both countries share. First, both only have one major title to their name. England (as we are constantly reminded) won the World Cup in 1966. Spain won the the European title in the 1950s. Second, despite having only ever won one national title, the press and public of each are notoriously good at overhyping their chances of success and, ultimately blaming someone else when defeat inevitably occurs. This type of attitude makes you will them to lose, everytime they play.
Many England fans, fuelled by the flames of the tabloids believe that their country has almost a divine right to win the World Cup. After all the English invented the game. Yet when England lose a crucial match, it’s rarely because the team or players are not as good as the public is lead to believe, no, no - it’s because there are dark forces conspiring against them. At France 1998 England the culprits were Diego Simeone “he got Beckham sent off!” and referee Kim Milton Nielsen “he fell for Simeone’s trick” and “disallowed Sol Campbell’s goal“. If England had superior players to the workmanlike David Batty they may have fared better. At Euro 2004 it was referee Urs Maier who disallowed a late “winner” again from Campbell. Most Englishmen who failed to spot John Terry’s foul on the Portuguese goalkeeper, Ricardo and forget that Portugal were far superior to an England team which contained Emile Heskey..(enough said).
When I went to work in Spain, I thought that the English superiority complex could not be surpassed. Much to my surprise, it was. A recent article in World Soccer, sums up the position:
“Spain’s superiority complex is matched only by their inferiority complex. They’re convinced they use the ball better than anyone else, that teams such as England lack subtlety, while teams such as Italy lack beauty. There is a sense that victory by any means other than neat passing football is illegitimate, but they are equally convinced that fate, or some dodgy plot,will conspire against them…whisper it quietly, maybe they just haven’t been good enough.”
So which of the two is the most hyped at Germany 2006? Without Wayne Rooney, England look ordinary up front - Crouch prowls the pitch with a speed that snails would be proud of and Owen has lost some of his sharpness through injury. In midfield, Gerrard rarely delivers in an England shirt. At the back, the error prone Rio Ferdinand believes his own hype.As for Spain, they struggled in hardly the toughest qualifying group. Fernando Torres is not, as Spaniards want us to believe, a world class forward. The midfield is also lightweight in the absence of Ruben Baraja and in defence Sergio Ramos has had a poor season with Real Madrid and looking nothing like an £18 million defender.
My prediction? Spain to go out in the second round and England to make the quarter-finals at best.
