John Carlin: England and Spain, the best teams in the world at flattering to deceive

With Serie A imploding, the English and Spanish leagues stand way clear of the rest, unchallenged as the two strongest in the world. Yet while Italy are world champions, the English and Spanish national sides continue to do as they have done consistently these last 40 years: flatter to deceive.

In 1966, England won the World Cup. In 1964, Spain won the European Nations' Cup. Since then neither of the two has won - or looked like winning - anything. Recently things have got even worse with both beginning the qualifying competition for Euro 2008 so badly that there is a fair chance neither will make it.

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Where the similarities end is in the respective desire of the two nations to succeed. England, egged on by fanatically patriotic support, try so, so hard. Spain, drained by their compatriots' apathy, seem to turn up at the big footballing events chiefly to keep up appearances. That might be a slight exaggeration, but if you want a measure of how lacking in seriousness the Spanish are about their national team, take a look at its coach, Luis Aragones.

He is a rambling, shambling, incoherent figure given to saying stupid things (though it is more by a wilful error of translation than anything else that he has been branded a raging racist by the English press). If the Spanish people truly cared about their national team, the pressure on him to go at the end of the last World Cup would have been as great as it was on the equally culpable coaches of England, Brazil and Argentina. Aragones not only stayed on, he survived an appalling start to the Euro 2008 qualifiers, losing two out of three games, and then defeat in a friendly at home to Romania.

So will England hammer Spain tonight? If results could be measured in terms of respective national interest, yes. Resoundingly so. Real Madrid supporters, who make up about 50 per cent of Spanish fandom, are thinking only of the meltdown at their club right now. Barcelona fans, who make up about 35 per cent of the Spanish total, simply do not care. Well, a fair number - the Catalan contingent - will be supporting England; letting off celebratory fireworks if they score. For the rest, they are far more preoccupied by Samuel Eto'o and his apparent return to fitness after four months out of the Barça side.

Still, the Spanish players themselves will be giving it a good go tonight. Not life or death, but they will want to impress. Not least because there are two or three there who might fancy their chances of impressing potential English buyers. The Premiership, after all, is where the money is. And the best fans.

One Spaniard in tonight's squad who is frequently linked with a move to England, usually to Manchester United, is Atletico Madrid's Fernando Torres. He is a young, strong, tall, fast, skilful, handsome striker with one weakness. He does not score goals. Torres is like a metaphor for the Spanish side. He looks great. Soon to turn 23, El Niño remains the eternal promise of Spanish football, the great - but subtly fading -- Iberian hope.

A far better bet for a big English club looking for a striker is Valencia's David Villa. He does not look the part as much as Torres does, but he is what in Spain they call, borrowing from the English, "un killer". He has that half-crazed, single-minded, go-through-a-brick-wall lust for goal of the great penalty-area assassins. Jonathan Woodgate and company will not enjoy playing against him. Villa looks mean, he is dangerous and it would be a surprise if this time next season he were not playing either in England, or for Real Madrid or Barcelona.

As for the rest of the Spanish team, very good players wherever you look. Iker Casillas, in goal, remains a miracle man. Carles Puyol, the Barcelona captain, and Sergio Ramos, Real's young Turk, make a formidably driven (Stuart Pearce with a tad less psycho) defensive duo. In midfield there is David Albelda, the no less gritty Valencia captain, Arsenal's marvellous Cesc Fabregas, Liverpool's Xabi Alonso and Barcelona's Xavi, who Alex Ferguson is also reported to be interested in buying. Very shrewd of the Scot if that is true.

What this Premiership season has revealed is the paramount importance for Manchester United of Paul Scholes. Assuming that Scholes, at 32, cannot have too long left at the top level, Xavi would be the perfect replacement. There are not two players more identically matched in Europe. Short and quiet, both of them, they are attacking midfield orchestrators, hub players par excellence. Excellent first touch and vision, wonderful passers of the ball, combative, the two also pack a tremendous shot from outside the area. Scholes may be a shade more complete a player, but all in all the similarities are uncanny.

There is no reason at all, on strict merit and ability, why Spain should not win. They almost certainly will not but, in the unlikely event that they should, no one will be more amazed than Luis Aragones.