Is winning Euro 2008 bad for Spain in 2010?

Every soccer columnist and announcer have been all over Spain since they won Euro 2008, but it is a good thing for them in 2010?

Let's break down the actual tournament for them: They played Russia twice, a team that played right into their game plan both times unfortunately. They had to come from behind 1-0 at halftime to beat Greece 2-1 on an 88th minute goal. They beat Sweden 2-1 on some really slack defending in stoppage time. I'm not taking anything away from David Villa's goal in the Sweden game, but those two defenders could have done a LOT better.

In the quarterfinals they went 0-0 with Italy and won on penalties. People who watch tournaments like this know that matches decided on penalties are whoever is luckier on the day. But fair play to Spain, sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good and luck was on their side.

Then there was Germany in the final. Giving credit where its due, Spain played well in this game. I think had Klinsmann been the Germany coach, Spain would have been forced to score more than one goal but at the end of the day they got the job done.

But why do I even bother to bring this up? The winner of the Euro tournament has almost never done well in the next World Cup in recent memory.

1. Greece won Euro 2004 with a really good defense, but failed to even qualify for World Cup 2006.

2. France were on the heels of its biggest success ever as a nation. With arguably its biggest talent pool ever, they won World Cup '98, Euro 2000, and the '01 Confederations Cup. But did winning Euro 2000 curse them for World Cup 2002? Yes. In a group with Senegal, Uruguay, and Denmark they did not make it to the knock-out stage. They didn't even score a single goal! And this was with the likes of Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, and Zidane.

3. Germany won Euro '96. When they had to go to France for World Cup '98, they started out well as they topped their group. But in the round of 16 they had to come from behind to beat Mexico 2-1 with two goals in the last fifteen minutes. Next was Croatia in the quarterfinals. They lost 3-0.

4. Denmark won Euro '92. Failed to qualify for World Cup '94.

5. The Netherlands won Euro '88. In World Cup '90 they advanced out of their group as one of the best third place teams (24 teams were in the WC back then) by drawing all three group games. An interesting fact is the Netherlands were never losing at any point in their group. They just had a knack for giving up game tying goals late on. The Round of 16 brought West Germany and they were beaten 2-1.

6. France won Euro '84. Finally a team with success in the World Cup after winning the Euro tournament. France made it to the 1986 World Cup semi-finals and they earned it, too. The round of 16 had Italy (2-0) and and the quarterfinals had Brazil (albeit they won on penalties). They couldn't beat West Germany in the semis but won the third place game.I kind of want to know the last team to win the Euro tournament and make it to the following World Cup final.

7. West Germany won Euro '80. This was the last team to win the Euro tournament and make it to the following World Cup final by defeating France on penalties in the semi-finals. But they lost the final to Italy 3-1.

Can the team that won the World Cup after winning the previous Euro tournament step forward?!?

8. Czechoslovakia won Euro '76 and in the 1978 World Cup they.....didn't even go. Failed to qualify...

9. We have a winner. Thank you West Germany!!! They won Euro 1972 and as the host nation won the 1974 World Cup (a 16-team tournament at the time).

Spain has 34 years of history working against them. Can they overcome it and win the World Cup in 2010? Or will they fade away in the first knockout game? Another interesting fact is that Spain has never even made it to the semi-finals before. They finished 4th in the 1950 World Cup, but it was a jacked up tournament and the format for that was absolutely nothing like it is today. But we shall see what they do come next summer.