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World Cup - Spain

Spain dreaming of brighter future

It would be fair to say that Spain's qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ was not their most spectacular. In fact, it was only after an emphatic 5-1 win over Slovakia in the first leg of the play-offs that their place in the finals looked secure and their fans could breath a collective sigh of relief.
When Luis Aragones's side were drawn in Group 7 alongside Serbia and Montenegro, San Marino, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Lithuania, few thought they would have much difficulty topping their group. However no one told that to the Serbo-Montenegrins, who surprised almost everyone by winning the group. Though Spain remained unbeaten, they drew too many games to take top spot, with the points dropped in their two draws against Bosnia-Herzegovina and away in Lithuania proving costly.

And so the Iberians had to sweat it out a bit longer with a two-legged play-off against the up-and-coming Slovakians, who had finished ahead of Russia in Group 3. The Spanish finally did justice to their favourites' billing in the first leg, when an inspired Luis Garcia practically destroyed the visitors single-handedly. A hat-trick by the Liverpool man plus a goal apiece from Fernando Morientes and Fernando Torres left Slovakia's dream in tatters. A 1-1 draw in the return leg four days later merely rubber-stamped Spain's passport to the finals.

Spain did not taste defeat once during the period between Aragones's arrival as national team coach in summer 2004 and the close of 2005, posting six wins and six draws in official games. Yet while they remained unbeaten, they did struggle to finish off opponents, due in no small part to their strikers' inability to put away their chances.

Germany 2006 will be Spain's eighth consecutive appearance at the FIFA World Cup finals. They last missed out in 1974, when coincidentally the tournament was also held on German soil. However, international honours have so far proved elusive for la selección, their one tournament triumph coming more than 40 years ago at the 1964 UEFA European Championship. Their best result at a FIFA World Cup was back at Brazil 1950, where they finished fourth. Luck often seems to desert the Spanish, especially at the last-16 stage, where they fell at USA 94 and again at Korea/Japan 2002, the latter time on penalties.

Read more at: FIFA World Cup - Yahoo!