Fingers Crossed for Excellence - UEFA 3rd Quarter Final

Fingers Crossed for Excellence - UEFA 3rd Quarter Final

Team reporter Graham Hunter has just one wish ahead of Spain's quarter-final against France – that it is excellence, rather than errors, which decides who makes the last four.

Before I name-drop, it's best to establish something up front. All of us who are asked to write these blogs, because we've been sent to cover one of the teams at UEFA EURO 2012, know just what a fantastic opportunity we've been given; if the position were advertised, there would be a queue from Gdansk to Gauteng full of hopefuls who wanted to cover Spain.

That said, Andrés Iniesta told me something the other day which brought tomorrow's match against France into even sharper focus. "We've reached the stage of the tournament, against sides with such equal levels of quality, that it's going to be about the side which reaches the opposition goal twice and scores at least once," he said.

That means, to me, that the side with the greatest efficacy, the fewest errors… perhaps the better luck, is the one which will progress. If the Spanish were to pick over their recent competitive history against France then they'd find errors; if the rest of us put a magnifying glass to the recent golden age of La Roja's football, you'd find almost none.

The ball taking on a life of its own and, somehow, squirming under the body of Luis Arconada in 1984 following a strike from Michel Platini is utterly iconic. How it went over the line remains a mystery, but it did and France won the EURO on home turf; Spain left in tears.

Then, in the UEFA EURO 2000 quarter-finals, Raúl González, of all people, misses a last-minute penalty and extra time is required. Again, France go on to win the tournament. And the 2006 FIFA World Cup? Despite leading 1-0, Spain ended up suffering a defeat which still rankles.

Now think of the modern Spain – Iker Casillas's miracle save in the 2010 World Cup final to deny Arjen Robben, his two penalty saves in the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2008. Then there is Cesc Fàbregas's winning penalty that day, Casillas's save against Paraguay in South Africa. It goes on – late winners against Sweden in 2008, Croatia in 2012, becoming the only team in history to lose the opening game of a World Cup and still go on to lift that trophy.

Moreover, winning 1-0 four straight times to become champions of the world equates to no errors at the back. We are in front of what promises to be a classic match and one where I hope it is excellence which prevails (for either side), and errors are thankfully scarce.

Fingers Crossed for Excellence - UEFA 3rd Quarter Final