TNT Sports
Aragones: work starts now
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Published 17/11/2005 at 17:42 GMT
Spain coach Luis Aragones is well aware that his side's qualification for the World Cup does not necessarily mean they can be classed among the top teams in the world. Spain qualified on Wednesday night, drawing with Slovakia 1- 1, and progressing to next
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"We've qualified but now our aim has to be to get close to the top teams, the heavyweights, those ones that win the World Cup," Aragones said following Wednesday's game.
Spain have not set the footballing world on fire with their performances during qualification and had to go through what was potentially a tricky playoff tie against Slovakia.
It turned out to be a stroll in the park for Aragones' men, winning 5-1 in a first leg win at the Vicente Calderon in Madrid to effectively settle the tie before having to travel to Slovakia.
"While keeping our feet on the ground we need to believe that if we do things well we can make that extra step and go up another level but we've got very little time to prepare," Aragones continued.
"At the moment if we play at 100 percent we're capable of beating anyone but if we don't we're also capable of losing to anyone," he added.
Aragones is aware of the rich footballing tradition in Spain though and won't be getting carried away with qualification.
"I'm happy for the players, for the country and for me. It was an obligation that we had to fulfil and we've done it but we shouldn't be celebrating too much as Spain have qualified for the World Cup for almost the last 30 years.
"Personally, it would have been a terrible blow to me if we hadn't qualified after so many years."
Top marksman Raul was more willing to get caught up in the emotion of the achievement however, and is already dreaming of doing great things next summer, despite Spain's historical difficulty in succeeding at major tournaments.
"Now we've booked our ticket to Germany we have to dream of doing something really big," said Raul.
"We have to approach the tournament with humility but also with the knowledge that we have got a lot of quality."
Spanish defender Michel Salgado echoed his captain by admitting that the real hard work begins after qualification.
"We have qualified by merit, we were better (than Slovakia) especially in the first leg and it is very important to have got to the World Cup. But now the hard work really begins," said Salgado.
"All the teams at the World Cup are of a very similar level and we are not inferior to any of the other sides. The only one that is a step above the rest is Brazil."
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