Can anyone stop them becoming the first team to retain the European Championship in two years’ time? And looking at the relative youth of this squad, they have a strong chance of becoming the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962.
Along the way, individual records will tumble. Iker Casillas is sure to become the most capped player in the history of Spanish football.The final was his 111th cap (Andoni Zubizarreta, the record holder, won 126) and, at 29 and a goalkeeper, Casillas could comfortably play for another seven years. David Villa is just one short of Raul’s total of 44 goals. That record will fall during Euro 2012 qualifying.
“We are making history,” said Xabi Alonso in the aftermath of victory on Sunday night. “Right now is not the time to think about the future, but of course the basics are there with this team. The style is there, the mentality is there, the team spirit is there, so if we keep working in this way many more big things may come.”
This is not the happy coincidence of one group of players of the same age all delivering on youthful promise. It is more than that. The ages range from Carles Puyol (32) and Xavi (30) down to Sergio Busquets (21). This squad is made up of several interlocking generations of outstanding players: in the 23 there were players born in every year from 1978 to 1988.
This is not a golden generation, it is a golden dynasty, the assembly of an international footballing superpower.
Being a superpower is all about excess. At the height of the Cold War, both the United States and Russia had enough nuclear warheads not only to destroy the world, but to do it several times over.
Spain’s excess of talent does not seem fair. How can you leave a player of such extraordinary talent as Cesc Fabregas on the bench? Or attacking players as exciting as Juan Mata, David Silva and Jesús Navas? Or a goalkeeper as good as Pepe Reina? Spain’s second XI would be one of the top five international teams in the world.
It is this level of internal competition that helps to drive Spain. When great teams achieve sustained success — and Spain have lost just twice in 55 games – the question always comes back to whether success brings with it a diminution in appetite. With so many players hungry to get into this squad, let alone the team, that is not a problem for the Spanish.
They look an imposing proposition for Euro 2012. If anything they should be stronger, with several players coming into their prime and Fernando Torres sure to recover form and fitness after his poor tournament.
With Italy, England and France having to rebuild, only the Dutch and the impressive Germans stand in their way.
Of this squad, only Puyol and Joan Capdevila are likely to retire from international football. Fernando Hierro, the technical director, has tried to persuade Puyol to stay on and win the 10 more caps he needs to reach his century but he will be 34 by the time Vicente del Bosque’s team head for Poland and Ukraine.
Raul Albiol, Real Madrid’s 24-year-old centre-back is his natural heir. Capdevila is also 32 and while left-back is the closest thing Spain have to a problem position, Alvaro Arbeloa is a more than capable successor.
Even more intimidating for the rest of the world is that the majority of this team will still be around for Brazil in 2014. The one major player who might be too old by then is Xavi but given that his style of play is based more around intelligence than physicality, you could well imagine him prompting and probing at the age of 34. Even if he has retired from international football by then, Fabregas is waiting to take over.
Then of course there are the ambitious young players trying to force their way into this team. Javi Martínez, 21, is developing into a classy holding midfielder while Mata’s skills on the wing were barely glimpsed at this World Cup.
Bojan Krkic is still just 19 and has made more than 100 appearances for Barcelona while the Venezuela-born winger Jeffrén Suárez is also coming through at the Nou Camp. Sergio Canales, 19, who joined Real Madrid this summer, adds to Spain’s ridiculous strength-in-depth in midfield. At this rate they will be well set up for 2018, too.
Three other golden generations
Brazil (1958-66): Having won in Sweden in 1958 — and introduced a 17-year-old Pele to the world — Brazil were successful in Chile four years later, this time inspired by the bandy-legged dribbling of Garrincha. They were bundled out of the 1966 tournament in England by an aggressive Portugal, with Pele vowing never again to play at a World Cup. He later relented, and inspired Brazil’s triumph in Mexico 1970.
West Germany (1972-76): Inspired by captain Franz Beckenbauer, the Germans won Euro 72 and the 1974 World Cup. They came close to winning three successive major trophies but lost to Czechoslovakia on penalties in the final of Euro 76. Their dominance came to an end at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, where they went out in the second round.
France (1998-2002): Having won the World Cup in 1998, their Euro 2000-winning team was arguably even better. They came into the 2002 World Cup with Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira still in their pomp but were amazingly eliminated without scoring a goal. Two years later they were dumped out of Euro 2004 by Greece.
