World Cup 2014 is Spain's to lose. This was the most emphatic message that came with Spain's 4-0 demolition of Italy in Kiev on Sunday. With two Euro titles - considered the toughest test in football - on either side of a World Cup win, Spain are the undisputed masters of the game now.
As a dazzled world gropes for superlatives to describe them and their rightful place in sporting pantheon, clueless rival coaches are returning to age-old coaching manuals to find an answer to this side's fantastic surge.
Should the South Americans - Brazil and Argentina - worry? You could argue that this Spanish team can't get more complete - something that not even Pele's wondrous team of 1970, with Felix, their weak-link goalkeeper, could boast of.
Halfway in the run-up to 2014, Spain's hunger does not seem to ebb. Worse, no suitable rival appears in sight - all hallmarks of the making of an all-time sporting great.
To say that Spain is now the reference point for all football is not far off the mark. Seldom has a team dominated - with such unerring consistency - modern football with such simple gear-changing ease as this team. Today, the bar in the game is not set by the South American yellow, but by the Iberian red.
La Roja! Spain's the best among all-time greats - The Times of India
True champs! What a way to win, kudos to you, Spain
As a dazzled world gropes for superlatives to describe them and their rightful place in sporting pantheon, clueless rival coaches are returning to age-old coaching manuals to find an answer to this side's fantastic surge.
Should the South Americans - Brazil and Argentina - worry? You could argue that this Spanish team can't get more complete - something that not even Pele's wondrous team of 1970, with Felix, their weak-link goalkeeper, could boast of.
Halfway in the run-up to 2014, Spain's hunger does not seem to ebb. Worse, no suitable rival appears in sight - all hallmarks of the making of an all-time sporting great.
To say that Spain is now the reference point for all football is not far off the mark. Seldom has a team dominated - with such unerring consistency - modern football with such simple gear-changing ease as this team. Today, the bar in the game is not set by the South American yellow, but by the Iberian red.
La Roja! Spain's the best among all-time greats - The Times of India
True champs! What a way to win, kudos to you, Spain
