Final of a four-part series leading up to this month’s World Cup in South Africa.
For years, Spain was akin to the Boston Red Sox, a prodigiously gifted team that wasted those gifts, a winning machine that found ways to break down just when the wins would have meant the most. Then came the breakthroughs, the 2004 World Series for Boston and the 2008 Euro Championship for Spain.
The Red Sox followed up their first World Series in
86 years with another championship three seasons later. After getting upset 2-0 by the U.S. in last summer’s Confederations Cup semifinal — its last defeat of any kind — will pre-tourney favorite Spain finally get over the hump and win its first World Cup?
“If they can show up in the same form as they did at the European Championship, they will be very hard to beat,” ESPN analyst and ex-Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Midfielder Xavi said belief is the biggest key to beating the likes of Brazil, Argentina or defending champion Italy, for both his team and for England, another over-hyped, underachieving team looking to break through.
“People say that the strongest nation on paper is Spain; but after us, I really think it is England,” Xavi told the Daily Star.
“Like Spain, England [needs] to start believing that they can win a major tournament. If they do that, with the players they have, they will be very dangerous. After so many years of hurt and disappointment, you have to get the belief back. Without it you won’t win anything.”
Spain not only won Euro 2008, but did it with style not seen in years. With Xavi and Andres Iniesta working perfect triangles in midfield, Fernando Torres and David Villa the best strike tandem on the planet, Gerald Pique and Carles Puyol in central defense, it’s almost unfair to have a world-class keeper in Iker Casillas.
Torres had an operation on torn cartilage in his right knee in April, missing the end of Liverpool’s EPL season and leaving him in doubt for the start of the World Cup. But despite missing this past week’s tune-up vs. Saudi Arabia, he expressed confidence he will be fit for the June 16 opener against Switzerland.
Nevertheless, even with Torres expected back for Honduras and Chile, the Spaniards are managing expectations. Coach Xabi Alonso says his team can win but don’t view it as the favorite, pointing to its last trip to South Africa, when the U.S. snapped Spain’s world-record 15-game winning streak and 35-game unbeaten streak.
“We have a good opportunity. We don’t think if we’re favorites. What does it mean to be favorite? It doesn’t add anything,” Alonso told GQ. “The team is in a good way, but we learned at the Confederations Cup that if we had a bad day we were out of the race.
“In this sort of competition you have to be really consistent and it’s very important that the players arrive in good shape. This year we have a lot of determination and conviction. There are reasons to believe that we can win the World Cup.”
brian.lewis@nypost.com
GROUP G
BRAZIL
FIFA rank: 1
Coach: Dunga
Player to watch: Kaka
They’ve toned down the o jogo bonito, but not the talent, with Kaka and an underrated defense with Maicon and goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
PORTUGAL
FIFA rank: 3
Coach: Carlos Queiroz
Player to watch: Cristiano Ronaldo
Somebody else besides Ronaldo must step up. Deco is old, and it may be time for Nani to step out of his former Manchester United teammate’s shadows.
IVORY COAST
FIFA rank: 27
Coach: Sven Goran Eriksson
Player to watch: Yaya Toure
Star forward Didier Drogba will have surgery after breaking his arm Friday. But Africa’s most gifted team has Chelsea teammate Salomon Kalou and Barcelona’s Toure.
NORTH KOREA
FIFA rank: 105
Coach: Kim Jong-Hun
Player to watch: Hong Yong-Jo
These 1,000-1 underdogs are not helped by being in the Group of Death. Captain and top scorer Hong Yong-Jo plays for Russia’s FC Rostov, but they will compete with D.
GROUP H
SPAIN
FIFA rank: 2
Coach: Vicente del Bosque
Player to watch: Andres Iniesta
If the Euro 2008 champs don’t win their first World Cup, it will be deemed a failure. With Iniesta, Fernando Torres, goalkeeper Iker Casillas, Cesc Fabregas and Xavi, don’t bet against them.
SWITZERLAND
FIFA rank: 24
Coach: Ottmar Hitzfeld
Player to watch: Alex Frei
The cunning Hitzfeld has talent to work with all-time scorer Alex Frei — back from a broken hand — Bayer Leverkusen winger Tranquillo Barnetta and West Ham’s Valon Behrami.
CHILE
FIFA rank: 18
Coach: Marcelo Bielsa
Player to watch: Humberto Suazo
Earthquake-ravaged Chile plays a 3-4-3 with a diamond midfield. They’re led by midfielder Matias Fernandez and Suazo, who led CONMEBOL with 10 goals while Chile netted 32.
HONDURAS
FIFA rank: 38
Coach: Reinaldo Rueda
Player to watch: Amado Guevara
David Suazo is the scorer, Guevara the maestro. But the heart is midfielder Wilson Palacios, who showed up at training last year the day after the funeral of his murdered brother.
