EURO 2008 INFO

Vicente Del Bosque has thrown his hat into the ring for the Spanish national team boss' place, with Luis Aragones set to step down after this summer's Euro 2008. But is the former Madridista the right man for the job?

Capital Notion

National team positions are often seen as quite sedate affairs, with the hustle and bustle of day-to-day management traded for a more detached look at goings-on during the domestic seasons. But this changes when one takes charge of one of the big nations - Spain included. Thankfully, Del Bosque is no stranger to a bit of hard work.

Having served Madrid for years - and twice as a caretaker manager - his appointment in 1999 didn't quite come out of left-field, but what followed was certainly surprising.

In those four years, he racked up a trophy haul comprising two Ligas - a 50% success rate in the top flight - the European and Spanish Super Cups, and the Intercontinental Cup. He could take his teams to the big occasion, and see them rise to it, at least for the most part.

What's more, he proved himself canny enough in Europe, winning twice and reaching the semis twice - wins tempered with near-misses, but wins nonetheless, and impressive ones at that.

Meanwhile, across the city, Luis Aragones' playing career was ending just as Del Bosque's hit stride - just a year separated Vicente's arrival in the capital from Aragones' retirement.

Still, when he finally threw off his dusty boots, Luis wasn't finished. Quite the opposite. He was just getting started.

For within minutes of retirement he was appointed Atleti's coach, where he was to spend the next six years. Then, as now, both clubs were massive, but Real were top dogs. Only a year had passed since Atltei's European Cup final appearance in '74, but '75 saw the blancos leave the indios humiliated after settling the Copa del Rey final on penalties.

In fact, Aragones was going to be thwarted on more than one big occasion. He was Atletico through and through, and remains a hero to many, but during his four tenures as boss at the Vicente Calderon, silverware was relatively hard to come by, and a single Liga remains his sole "true" haul (added to three Copas del Rey, the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente in his debut season, and a Supercopa.)

Esprit de Corps

It's received wisdom that the Spanish squad - like the Dutch - are immensely talented and destined for success, or would be if they could leave all the damned drama behind and play as a unit.

Admittedly, Aragones' ministrations have seen a sort of regimentation to the Furia's play, but at the cost of some creativity. Sometimes - as against Iceland - this results in humiliations or near-misses. Against Sweden and Denmark, matching fire with fire, quality tells.

But there is the sense of hesitancy to Spain's play at times that betrays a nervousness, or maybe even a sense of incompleteness. There is something missing... and it could be a player, or a group of players.

It could be Raul.

Some background: Del Bosque served Madrid under Florentino Perez, a larger-than-life character in a land where club presidents seldom, if ever, shy away in the background. Perez, of course, instituted the famous 'Galacticos' doctrine, wherein only the world's best and brightest would be brought to the Bernabeu for the amusement of the now-global fanbase.

All well and good, but not even mighty Madrid - or not-so-mighty, as it was then - can comprise a squad of 25 Galacticos. That's where Del Bosque and his 'Pavones' came in.

Zidanes y Pavones was the name given to the curious mix of world-class players and hard-working cantera youth products: Zinedine Zidane and Francisco Pavon, two players that could hardly be more different, became poster-boys for the era.

Despite Del Bosque's having to keep track of all the new signings made by those above him, and somehow managed to keep his Zidanes and Pavones the best of pals on the pitch. It can't have been easy - some had seniority over others; some earned wage packets several times those of guys who played alongside them 30 times a season. But he did it.

Maybe, then, he's best-suited to bring the likes of Raul back into the fold. The Real Madrid captain has been out of the Spanish line-up almost since time immemorial, and while much of his early absence was down to poor form, his return to prominence since the start of this season has been met with a wall of resistance by Luis Aragones.

Raul is just an example. There remain others who could do a job for Spain - and some in the current squad who are past their use-by date. But Aragones is nothing if not a loyalist - or a stickler - and drastic changes (the introductions of Soldado and Luis Garcia spring to mind) are seldom unenforced, and rarely last.

With a At the time of his departure from Madrid in 2003, Perez explained that the club needed someone with a more modern, tactical outlook. Perhaps he had a point - maybe Del Bosque wasn't the 'tecnico' required for the modern game. But what he certainly was was a man who could take 25 vastly differing personalities and disarm them all with his easy-going nature.

In short, he was a very un-Spanish manager - and thus perfect for Spain. Villa, Torres, Silva, Iniesta - the raw materials are there - he just needs to select them, and make them work for him.

Out With The Old

Perhaps, above all, he represents a break with the Aragones era.

The two are like chalk and queso. Del Bosque is the mustachioed, ever-so-slightly bookish Madridista - from Salamanca, originally, but Real Madrid to the core all the same - who projects an air of serene superiority wherever he goes. His aura is one of implicit confidence that would befit the noblest caballero. (But whether or not he can always back it up with the substance is another matter - just ask Besiktas fans.)

Aragones, meanwhile, is from the rojiblanco side of Madrid, and the differences don't stop there. The Hortaleza boy never had it easy, and he makes sure everyone knows it. A ranting, raving, bustling influence, even when he stands still, there is the constant hint of impending motion. He talks at you, not to you. He shouts, he argues. He quite clearly resents the media, and is not the type to let such a grievance go unspoken.

Indeed, while he may be a Madrid boy at heart, his attitude - intense pride, a constant need to save face, and a cocksure correctness bordering on the stubborn - is the traditional, if somewhat lazy, caricature of the southerner, the Andalucian. In this way, he embodies more of Spain than Del Bosque, but results - and opinions - are just as mixed as the country's regional differences. (This is to say nothing of his unabashed racism.)

So, the Aragones era has had a distinct style to it, and - despite the fine closure to Spain's Euro 2008 qualification campaign - it's one that those with longer memories may wish to see come to an end.

Del Bosque certainly feels that he's the man to usher in a new age - one that is at once familiar and original. And if he sits, smiling, hands eagerly clasped in front of him, it will be hard for onlookers not to feel that change is finally afoot.