Aragones backs Spain to retain Euro crown
Reuters - Tuesday 15 November 2011, 16:05
Former Spain coach Luis
Aragones is confident his country will retain their European
Championship crown next year despite recent friendly defeats
against England and Italy.
The world and European champions won every game in
qualifying for Euro 2012 and will go into the tournament as
heavy favourites but eyebrows were raised after they were beaten
1-0 by a depleted England team on Saturday.
This follows a 2-1 defeat to Italy in August, while Iberian
rivals Portugal thrashed Spain 4-0 almost a year ago.
"I think the team is able to win [the Euros] again if we
have the motivation, if we have the winning mentality," Aragones
told the Aspire4Sport conference in Doha.
The former Atletico Madrid coach led Spain to the 2008
European Championship title, the country's first major
international honour since 1964, while successor Vicente del
Bosque oversaw last year's World Cup triumph.
"England were better than us and that's why they won and
this is football. I think Spain is always at a high level in any
competition," added Aragones.