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SPAIN NOW WANT TO BE WORLD LEADERS
Del Bosque - new Spain coach.
Spain begin their quest to add a first-ever World Cup title to their European Championship crown this weekend when they host Bosnia-Herzegovina in Murcia.
The match is the first of a home double-header over the next few days that Spain hope will set them on the road to a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with Armenia the visitors to Albacete on Wednesday.
Saturday's game will be the first competitive outing for Spain since their Euro 2008 success and also the competitive debut of new coach Vicente del Bosque, who enjoyed a winning start to life as Luis Aragones' replacement with last month's 3-0 friendly win over Denmark.
Spain, the world's top-ranked team who are unbeaten in 23 games, look to have a favourable start to their Group Five qualifying campaign, with seemingly tougher matches against Belgium and Turkey to come, but midfielder Xavi knows they cannot afford to underestimate any opponent.
"These days everybody competes well and we have the experience of when things have not gone well previously in qualifying for World Cups and European Championships," said Xavi, who was named as player of the tournament at Euro 2008.
"I think that it's in the home matches where we need to show that we are strong."
Del Bosque added: "Those who win are those who are intelligent and humble. If we fail in some of these areas, particularly in humility, then it's going to be bad for us.
"Past success does not give any guarantee of future triumphs."
The former Real Madrid coach has a couple of selection dilemmas heading into the match, not least because of the loss this week of striker Fernando Torres and midfielder David Silva to injury.
The absence of those two could open the door to youngsters Diego Capel and Bojan Krkic, who was initially omitted from Del Bosque's 20-man squad but was called up on Monday after Torres damaged a hamstring playing for Liverpool at the weekend.
Sevilla winger Capel, who had a hand in two of Spain's goal on his debut against Denmark, could replace Silva while Torres' loss increases the chance of Barcelona striker Bojan making his senior bow at some point in the match.
Del Bosque also has other things to mull over, admitting: "I still have some doubts because there are players like Cesc (Fabregas) and Xabi Alonso that I find hard to leave out of the starting line-up.
"Whoever I leave out I'm going to feel pain because they are not in the XI."
Bosnia-Herzegovina failed to qualify for Euro 2008 after finishing fourth in Group C, but they showed enough during that campaign to prove they could provide some headaches for the Spanish on Saturday.
Their biggest scalp was the 3-2 home win over Turkey, who only lost two matches in qualifying and would go on to make the European Championship semi-finals.
Bosnia-Herzegovina also managed to beat Norway 2-1 in Oslo, a result that did serious damage to the Scandinavian side's hopes of reaching the finals. In the end Norway finished third, one point behind Turkey.
Looking ahead to Saturday's match, new Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Miroslav Blazevic said: "In front of us are the most difficult opponents, but I'm happy about this. With the best teams it is easier. We shine when everyone writes us off."
Spain and Bosnia-Herzegovina have met competitively on four previous occasions, with two wins for the Iberian nation and two draws.
