Is there a more predictable international team than Spain?
La Roja always qualify easily – a draw and a defeat from their eight games this time around actually represented one of their worst campaigns since Euro 92, the last major tournament they missed. They always have a gifted squad packed with elite playmakers. They always pass the opposition into bleary-eyed submission.
And for four sensational years, they always won. Lifting their first World Cup trophy in 2010, between glories at Euro 2008 and 2012, was the ultimate distillation of the power of possession.
The philosophy remains, even if Xavi,
