Pound for Pound World Championship (2011 - )
After the win over Scotland, Spain had a five month gap until they next had to defend their crown. At home to the Czech Republic, it was expected they would cruise to victory. Instead, after a 29th minute opener by the visitors, for 40 minutes they trailed to their opponents. A four minute double though by David Villa earned a 2-1 win and their continued hold on the prize.
Four days later they travelled to lithuania, and despite an early opener they again left it until the last twenty minutes before tying the game up. The 29th March victory though ensured they would remain champions for at least another five months with another competitive game not arriving until September.
That September match proved little problem in keeping their crown, with a 6-0 win over Liechtenstein, however the next test promised to be tougher with an away match against Czech Republic, who knew at least a point would make it all but certain they would qualify for Euro 2012.
In their next two games, away to Czech Republic and at home to Scotland, Spain scored early goals to ensure there was little to be nervous about, and ensured their crowd would remain until Euro 2012.
After winning two tournaments on the trot, it was expected they would fall at this one. However, not only did Spain walk away with the trophy, they did so without losing a game, and destroying Italy 4-0 in the final.
The qualifiers for the World Cup threw up an interesting group for Spain, with France in their group. However the much improved French were unable to dislodge the championship from the Spanish - with a 1-1 draw in Spain followed by a 1-0 win for the champions in Paris.
Before them fixtures, Spain did of course lose to Honduras during the Olympics, however because it was an U23 tournament it was not recognised as a full international by our competition.
