Until England, Spain wake up, sad trend will continue

	Steve McClaren (left) should be getting more out of a team with as much talent as England has, such as Wayne Rooney. AP
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In the world of sports, "underachiever" is perhaps the most hurtful term you can throw at someone.

It implies that while all the skills and prerequisites are there, the failing is often mental: Either someone is too lazy, too weak-minded or too weak-willed, or some combination of the above.

Spain and England have historically epitomized the term at the national-team level. The former has arguably boasted one of the top domestic leagues during the last 50 years; the latter invented the game.

Today, La Liga and the Premiership are, once again, the top two leagues in the world. And while foreign players have a lot to do with it, there is no question that each churns out big-name players in industrial quantities.

And yet, between them, these two nations have won a measly two international competitions, both more than 40 years ago: the 1966 World Cup and the '64 European Championship. Nor can you say they've come close. Those two occasions, plus Euro '84, were the only times these two even reached a final.

What is worrying is that the legacy of underachievement seems to be manifesting itself even now as the two countries try to qualify for Euro '08. Spain sits third in its qualifying group, three points from second place (the top two advance to Austria-Switzerland).

Luis Aragonés' men have already lost twice (to Sweden and, incredibly, to Northern Ireland). Their situation would be even worse without two hard-won victories last week. A nervy 2-1 win over Denmark at the Bernabéu was facilitated by a dubious red card after just 20 minutes, which left the Danes down to 10 men. This was followed by a disappointing match against -- ahem -- Iceland, in which the Selección faithful had to wait until the 81st minute for Andres Iniesta to score the winning goal.

England isn't faring much better. On paper, the situation isn't atrocious. Steve McClaren's crew is two points behind group-leading Croatia, in a three-way tie with Israel and Russia (which has played one fewer game). Yet the recent performances have been so poor that, on Wednesday, against Andorra we saw something unprecedented: England fans booing their own team 20 minutes into a game.

In the past, such bile was usually reserved for after the final whistle. But such was the anger and frustration vented at McClaren and his players at the inability to create a decent chance against little Andorra (ranked 163rd in the world and comprising just two professionals) that the supporters vented their spleen at the first opportunity.

To be fair, the fans had a case. England had been insipid in the scoreless draw with Israel the previous Saturday. And, against Andorra, a full 51 minutes passed before Steven Gerrard finally broke the deadlock.