Vicente Del Bosque has said Spain’s hopes of retaining the World Cup rely on the squad bonding in Brazil.
AS reports the La Roja Coach as adding that winning a second consecutive World Cup will prove a difficult challenge regardless of the happy atmosphere in among the players.
“With good relationships between the players we will be closer to success,” Del Bosque said.
“There are many great teams that also want to be world champions, so repeating is very complicated.”
Del Bosque, speaking at a Fair Play conference held at the Novacaixagalicia Cultural Centre in Vigo on Thursday, added that he feels it is time a Spain player won the Ballon d’Or.
“You have to respect the people in the running, who are very good players, but when a team wins the European Championship and the World Cup as we did, I think that should be reflected individually,” he continued.
“I’m not naming names but I think there was a time when a Spanish player deserved the Ballon d’Or.”
Andres Iniesta, scorer of the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final, finished second in the voting that year, with Xavi Hernandez third.
Xavi was third again in 2011 while Iniesta was third in 2012. Each time the midfield duo lost out to Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the prize in 2013, with Messi second and Franck Ribery third.
