Opinion | Sensational Spain Set the Standard for England
So the European Championships are over and the winners of the Under 21 tournament have been crowned. As we are all too aware by now, England were not in the final and after a dismal performance in the group stages, did not progress from there.
Stuart Pearce paid with his job and despite his best attempts to deflect the blame onto the players, his time as U21 boss came to an end. For those who are wondering about his replacement - Gareth Southgate is the early favourite to take over the role. 
Given most people did not really expect much from our national side - and no wonder given the efforts put in by both the under 21 s and also the senior side in the last few years, perhaps it is best to move swiftly on from scrutinising the performance of England and look at the sensational performance of the winners - again - La Roja.
The side are simply a joy to watch - Olympic disaster aside - and quite frankly smart money would go on the Spanish Under 21 side to beat the England senior side. One of the marked and best differences between the young side and the full Internationals for Spain is just who makes up the side. 
The seniors have as we all know been wildly successful and given they boast the best of Real Madrid and Barcelona, that s not all that shocking. In fact, for their most recent game in the Confederation s Cup, only Roberto Soldado does not play club football for either of La Liga s big two.
The youth side however provide a refreshing mix up of players from a host of clubs in La Liga - not just hailing from the Castilla or La Masia, and whilst two of the standout players- Alvaro Morata and also skipper Thiago may belong to Los Blancos and the Catalan Giants respectively, there is also the likes of Martinez, Moreno and Koke, Isco and David De Gea on show.
Spain, and Italy for that matter were well represented by a host of players from a variety of clubs in their starting 11 and more than that, had benches full of top class players who would walk into the England side. Yet again we are left wondering why it is that England look so poor and another golden generation failed.
Spain's squad is good enough to let these talented kids gain tournament experience in the U21 set up whereas England's squad in far inferior to the extent that any kid that shows a glimpse of talent is drafted into the senior side leaving a weakened U21 squad.
Claiming Pearce had done extremely well in qualifying for the tournaments speaks volumes really and is little wonder the players performed so dismally yet again if that is all the FA expect of them.
One only needs to be reminded of the national outcry when the Spanish side did so badly at the Olympics - had they lost all three games in the groups this summer, Marca would have been handing out white hankys free with every issue to get the coach out. Is it the lack of expectations from the public and the press that is the issue for England or are the side simply not good enough?
When sides like Spain have creative players like Juan Mata and Javi Martinez who can t even get a game for the national side and we have more, let's say 'one dimensional' players like James Milner and Tom Cleverley it really doesn t provide the need for much investigation as to why we don t do very well really. 
Will a new manager turn things around for England? That is a question for another day and sadly the answer will still be, probably not. If pondering over England's international future isn't a fun thought for the day, here is one for you - Spain aren t doing too badly considering Germany are the new powerhouses of football are they?
What are your thoughts on England's U21 failure and Spain's success? Let us know. Join the conversation online, on Twitter on Facebook.
