In an interview with Spanish sports paper Marca, Luis Aragones spoke about the mental change his selection underwent during their successful Euro 2008 tournament.
The 69 year old manager, for whom the Euro 2008 final was his last match with the Spanish national team, explained that the quarter final match with Italy made the difference.
“Beating Italy changed the team’s psychology. Iker [Casillas] said that he was tired of not surviving the quarter finals. At the World Cup in Germany everybody – including myself – had less experience. France scored a goal against us, which surely they wouldn’t have done now.”
Aragones went on to compare the Spanish team with the Brazilian World Cup winning squad of 1970.
“They seemed a bit slow, but they came together very well and couldn’t be endangered.”
Although Aragones himself won’t be there, he does feel that this team has good chances of winning the 2010 World Cup.
“We are a team with an average age of 24 years and I think it can be done.”
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July 2, 2008
Nice way to put pressure on Del Bosque