Spaniards, and particularly the Spanish media, are very successful at turning the most marginal victory into a huge triumph.
However, after , most people have resisted blowing the events of the last week out of proportion and a sense of relief and a period of stocktaking has descended over the country in the aftermath of their .
The win secured Spain's place the last 16 and meant they also avoided Brazil by finishing as top of their group but no one in Spain, at least not anyone sober or reasonably sensible, is talking too loudly any more about winning the World Cup.
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is not something Serbian football fans talk about in glowing terms.
Internal disputes, heightened by the last-minute inclusion in the squad of coach Ilija Petkovic's son, resulted in .
Serbia crashed to three straight defeats, including a , and ended up being rated as the worst team in Germany - 32nd out of 32.
Now it falls to to erase those memories, both with results and flair.
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This week some of our regular football bloggers will be answering your World Cup questions. South American football expert Tim Vickery went first, and here's European expert Phil Minshull ...
Q. Who do you think will win the World Cup and who do you think will be the star of the tournament? I think Netherlands could win, and I think the star of the tournament could be Luis Fabiano, so what do you think?
Andrew David, Wales
A. My choice is Brazil - yes, about half the global population is also backing them so it's not the most imaginative choice. The current team under Dunga does not have the style of the Brazil of 1958, 1970 nor even 1982 but for the first time in their history they have a genuine world class goalkeeper in Julio Cesar and a good defence, especially with Maicon and Lucio on the right side.
My only concern is that Luis Fabiano and Kaka haven't been in their best form at Sevilla and Real Madrid this season, but everyone - especially Robinho - seems to raise their game when they pull on the famous jersey.
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Hi, I'm Phil Minshull. I've lived in Spain since 1997 and covered Spanish football since the first day I got here. My blog aims to provide some insight into what's happening in La Liga, and there is much more to it than only Real and Barcelona, as well as elsewhere around Europe.
