Spain are victims of their own success

No side has ever won three major titles in-a-row.

That is the goal that must drive Spain on, first against France in today’s quarter-final. They are already one of the greatest international sides in history: success in Euro 2012 might confirm them as the greatest. To sustain success over a four-year period, to keep churning out performances, to maintain the hunger, to avoid tactical predictability… it would be an astonishing achievement.

And to have the luck. The West Germany team of the seventies have come closest to winning three in-a-row but, having won the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974 they were beaten in a penalty shoot-out in the final of Euro 76. Was that bad luck? Perhaps not, for Czechoslovakia held a 2-0 lead at one point but there was something vaguely farcical about coming so close to success only to be beaten by a dinked penalty from an obscure moustachioed midfielder from Bohemians.