JOHANNESBURG - Spain will be wary when it faces Paraguay on Saturday in Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium of not making the same mistakes as in the past.
Until two years ago when the Spanish finally delivered on their undoubted promise by winning the European Championships, they had been known as the perennial chokers or underachievers.
Such was the bemusement and indeed amusement in some quarters at Spain's repeated inability to turn potential into achievement that the term "perennial underachievers" actually seemed to have become a permanent prefix to the word Spain.
That was finally disbanded two years ago in Vienna when it beat Germany 1-0 to lift the European title and coming into this competition Spain was seen as a joint-favorite alongside Brazil.
But not all lessons had been learned as the Iberians stumbled in their opening group match and were beaten 1-0 by Switzerland.
That seemed to focus minds, though, and the Spanish regrouped and rediscovered their form to move ominously into the last eight.
But coach Vicente del Bosque is determined his team should not fall back into the pitfalls that have tripped them up before and he is eager for his team to not take the South Americans lightly.
"We shall not underestimate Paraguay and prepare for them with great respect," he said. "They have very good defenders but also attackers. We must be fully focused to win that match.
"We know how difficult it is to be victorious, we can't take anything for granted. We must be hugely respectful of our next opponents."
Spain has certainly appeared to be on the right track in its past three matches, beating Honduras, Chile and Portugal.
But one thing it can be sure of in its next game is that it won't be easy to score.
Paraguay has conceded only one goal in this competition, in a 1-1 draw with then reigning champion Italy in its opening game.
But it has only scored three times in regulation time, needing penalties to advance past Japan in its second-round clash following a 0-0 stalemate.
agence france-presse
