Final call
AT LEAST, they won. Had Henning Berg not turned the ball into his own net with five minutes left in Valencia on Saturday, the country would be in a much more fretful mood tonight. Not that the spectre of failure isn't haunting this evening's play-off in Norway. Taking only the slenderest of advantages from the Mestalla Stadium, not to mention conceding an away goal, has left Spain a very worried nation.
Norway simply need to win 1-0 at home to leave a country red-faced by a tedious bunch of infinitely less flamboyant Nordic sorts. One goal and Spain will fail to reach their first international finals since 1978. Worse, they will miss a major finals on their doorstep. Long used to dishing out opprobrium to their Iberian neighbours, it hardly seems possible that Spain might skip next summer altogether. They simply have to be in the shake-up in Portugal.
Forget for a moment that Spain's victory was the only result on Saturday that didn't stop people in their tracks. This was a day when tiny Latvia shocked Turkey, when plucky Wales battled in Moscow, when Slovenia managed to draw with Croatia and when, of all things, the Scots beat the Dutch. Spain restored a little order to events by beating Norway.
However, even a hard-fought victory like this wasn't going to pacify the masses. Spain fell behind early to a Stefan Iversen strike and while the peerless Raul equalised moments later, the hosts found Norwegian keeper Espen Johnssen in inspired form. Getting embroiled in play-offs was bad enough for the Spanish public. Struggling to win in the play-offs is a humbling experience too far.
Inaki Saez, the man who replaced the incredibly perspiring Jose Camacho as national coach, bemoaned his team's luck afterwards. "I believe we were very unlucky in this game, as we have been in many games. We had 56 scoring chances, seven or eight ones that we should scored. Their goalkeeper was outstanding."
Saez, who missed his son's wedding because of Saturday's game, has really enamoured himself with the Spanish public or, more importantly, their press since replacing Camacho 15 months ago. This loud and passionate race are always at their most loud and passionate when it comes to their national football team, but the Basque-born coach hasn't had the easiest of times.
Firstly the Spaniards, fresh from being eliminated by awful officiating in the World Cup quarter-final, were humbled by Greece at home in the European qualifiers. Greece qualified, Spain were reduced to play it off with the likes of Latvia, Slovenia, Wales and the Netherlands. While the Dutch, perhaps, master the art of flattering to deceive more than the Spanish, they are used to play-off situations. Spain are accustomed to automatic qualification. As Saez discovered.
In the early days, it was all so different. Not unlike Brian Kerr, the Basque served his time at youth level before graduating. And it was a successful tour of duty. The under-20 world title in 1999, silver at the Sydney Olympics a year later, impressive records at the European Youth Championships. Spain won in Athens within weeks of his appointment, as new players were blooded. Xavi of Barcelona, Xabi Alonso of Real Sociedad and Fernando Torres of Athletico Madrid are among the three most watched, and coveted, youthful talents in world football.
But in June, the wheels came off Saez's bandwagon. The Greeks embarrassed Spain in Zaragoza. Still wiping the egg from their faces after that defeat, Spain dropped points at Winsdor Park, a result which effectively consigned the third best football side in the world, according to FIFA rankings, to the uncharted waters of play-offs.
The relationship between manager and press turned sour after Belfast. Most Spanish papers refused to acknowledge that Spain dominated Norway on Saturday, preferring to point out their appalling goals-to-chances ratio.
Saez didn't help matters when he told the media at a press conference prior to Saturday's first leg: "You seem pessimistic. It seems like you are scared witless." Marca, the Spanish sports daily, retorted in its editorial: "If we are scared it is because you are the one who has given us reason to be so."
Spain not making it to the European Championships is unthinkable. In 1964, they beat Russia in the final to secure their only major tournament success. That is as good as it gets for the national team, with pretty much everything since then being tinged with the sense of what might have been. They were defeated by a superb France in those 1984 finals and then they were knocked out by the French in the quarter-finals three years ago.
Their European record has looked better than their World Cup record. From hosting and failing on the pitch in 1982, to being beaten by Belgium on penalties in 1986 (after thumping Denmark 5-1), to a 1990 exit to Yugoslavia and a 1994 quarter-final loss to Italy sealed by Julio Salinas with a heartbreaking miss.
Spain at national level is a perpetual mystery tour through the play-offs. They underachieve like the Dutch, but not in the same way. Spain's critics have described it variously as an inferiority complex, an inability to cope with setbacks, fatalism or divisive regionalism but that last suggestion is off the mark.
It's not so much about Catalans and Basques and Galicians not getting on within the Spanish set-up: the problem is more that taken together they cannot get it on as a team, at least not to the extent that is expected of, say, Germany or France.
"In Spain, there has never been a national team culture," former coach Camacho says. "We lack a certain something to take us through, and I believe that it's a mental problem. In Spain we win all of our matches before we have even played them, but things don't always turn out like that on the pitch. It seems that Spain must always win, but our record does not always support that ambition."
The longer that Spanish clubs dominate the Champions League the more puzzling is the failure of the national side.
Camacho feels that club power became part of the problem. "Club football in Spain is so strong that the national side is almost an afterthought," he said. "In Spain nobody takes any notice of the national team until the World Cup finals, and then everybody expects us to win them."
Jorge Valdano, Real Madrid's sporting director, claims he can see an end to the nearly-men existence and he perceives a strong Spain taking a rightful place where it matters. "Sooner or later Spain will emerge at the top of the pile," says Valdano. "The key is maturity. Look at how long France had to wait for their first world title? Spain are also well placed to make this leap."
To make the leap, they have to ensure they get to Portugal. After a weekend when Saez bemoaned his luck and Joaquin Sanchez, the Real Betis midfield sensation, complained about the Norwegian suffocating tactics, the Spanish press have focused on the possibility of frost in Oslo and how the national team will cope with the freezing conditions.
"I will have no problem with the cold as it only takes me five minutes to warm up on the pitch. And besides all of our players have played in those sort of conditions before," Joaquin said.
"Norway must go all out and win, and they can't rely too much on their long ball if they want to quality. They have to take the game to us, which will suit us because Norway are not a better team than us."
Ruben Baraja, whose shot deflected off Berg's leg for the second goal on Saturday, put it in starker terms.
"The result in Valencia may not be perfect, but if we can't win in Norway, we don't deserve to be in Euro 2004."
Although Norway are blessed with some talented footballers, their footballing philosophy hasn't strayed too far from the ideals they shared with Jack Charlton in USA 94 which contrived to create the worse 90 minutes of the tournament. When Joaquin railed against their frustrating tactics, he was only speaking for the entire country.
SAEZ believes his opponents will be forced to play a different game in Oslo. "They will have to play a different game. They have to win and to do that, they will either sit back and try to score from the dead ball or push up further. If they do decide to push up, it will turn into a good game for us."
The converse of this, of course, is that if Norway sit back, it could turn into a bad game for Spain. And the worrisome expressions are there for all to see. The Spanish press and public remain concerned about their team freezing in the Olso winter but Saez and his team are simply focusing on one goal: ensuring this is the side to end the legacy of Spanish national teams freezing on the big occasion.
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