Byline: Graham Hunter IN POTCHEFSTROOM

WHEN Spain won Euro 2008, it was partly thanks to an utter tour de force from their volatile, volcanic and occasionally vicious 69-year-old coach Luis Aragones.

Even though his bark is usually worse than his bite, Aragones slapped his players into obedience when he had to and, in Austria, tore shreds off Sergio Ramos in public view simply to wrangle the young buck into line.

So there was something comfortable about Vicente del Bosque's appointment when he took over. The former Real Madrid right-back and amiable orchestrator of two Champions League victories as the 'Mister' of his old club -- Paris in 2000 and that dramatic Zinedine Zidane-inspired win at Hampden in 2002 -- was out of work and, basically, queuing up for the job.

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He would accept the low wage and he was immediately joined by his former playing lieutenant and legendary Real Madrid sweeper Fernando Hierro. Del Bosque would certainly bring no headlines like the racism storm which surrounded Aragones when he barked out orders to Jose Antonio Reyes about how to treat Thierry Henry.

Then came Spain's failure to win the Confederations Cup here last year. South Africa was a bad experience full of tired players, bumpy pitches, nerve-shredding Vuvuzela noise and that horrible defeat to a 'kick and rush' US side.

Doubts surfaced about whether del Bosque was cut from the same cloth as his predecessor.

But here, today, in the Afrikaaner heartland of Potchefstroom where Afrikaans is the native tongue and English a very distant second, those doubts feel as if they have dissipated.

Del Bosque's record is one defeat and 25 wins in his 26 matches since taking over and neither the scoring nor the defending records are shabby.

Spain won their group by taking victory in every qualifying match and the mood is good. In fact, after training yesterday, Carles Puyol admitted that he was organising the sweepstake on behalf of the team and admin staff -- 40 people putting 50 euros each into the pot.

Everyone has to predict every match, with points scored going towards the denouement, in which Spain expect to feature, on July 11 at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

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The same exercise was part of the experience last year when Spain bounced back from that searingly disappointing defeat to America by slugging it out for third place with hosts South Africa and winning with the kind of last-minute or added-time goal which has become a trademark.

The pot was 2,000 euros and guess who won it with an almost impeccable prediction record? Yes, Vicente del Bosque.

And even though he drew criticism for failing to shuffle the team in that tournament, relying too heavily on the old guard despite tired lungs, legs and minds, the way in which he has reacted tells a great deal about his ability to correct flaws and take Spain to the ultimate victory.

This time, for example, work on the pitch at their training base cost three million rand and, when del Bosque first set foot on it on Friday, he called it 'stupendous'.

THE 'High Performance' institute at North Western University, where Spain are based, brims with top equipment and custom-built facilities which cost the academic community 45million Rand to create especially for del Bosque's squad. Spain are paying back just over a quarter of that in renting the facility and will pay a bonus iReplica Watches
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