Time for Spain to bury chokers tag

Coach Jose Antonio Camacho has brought stability to a National side which was struggling under the leadership of former boss Javier Clemente.

The performance of Spanish teams in the Champions League – winners Real Madrid, runners-up Valencia and semi-finalists Barcelona – ensured an unprecedented domination for one country in Europe’s top club event and illustrates the strength of the Primera Liga that has provided all 22 men in Camacho’s squad.

Although Spain are without the supremely talented Luis Enrique, who failed to make the squad because of a knee injury, they have one of the most finely balanced midfields of any team at Euro 2000.

The quartet are orchestrated by Pep Guardiola, the majestic playmaker with a cool head.

Sitting just in front of the back four, Guardiola is one of the few individuals capable of dictating the pace of the game.

The Barcelona star is complemented by an industrious yet technically-gifted trio of Gaizka Mendieta, Joseba Etxeberria and Juan Carlos Valeron.

The championship draw has been kind to Camacho and the time may be ripe for the pre-tournament promise to finally come to fruition. However, Norway do have a habit of gate-crashing the party.

The last 10 years have been the greatest decade Norwegian football has ever known. They burst from nowhere onto the international scene, qualifying for two World Cups in succession and exporting more players than they have frozen fish.

They have humiliated England and regularly beaten Brazil and in strikers Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Tore Andre Flo – both struggling to command a regular place at Manchester United and Chelsea respectively – have two of the World’s most lethal strikers.

But coach Nils Semb has had a difficult task in filling the boots (Wellington boots that is) of his eccentric predecessor Egil Olsen, who transformed the Scandinavian country into a real force in World football.

He has stuck with the same system bequeathed by Olsen playing a direct and uncomplicated style – not surprising with many Norway players playing their trade in England.

A good performance in Holland and Belgium will allow Semb to firmly consign the Olsen era into the history books.

Even though they face a more technically gifted side in Spain, Norway have the same solid team ethic that has underpinned their impressive record in the late 1990s.