THERE was a time not too long ago when England and Spain found themselves constantly regarded in the same bracket at international level.

Mention the phrase ‘great underachievers at major tournaments’ during much of the last 40 years, and it’s a fair bet the names of those two countries will have instantly sprung to mind.

Not any more. While England continue to deceive and disappoint, Spain finally banished their hoodoo by ending 44 years without a trophy when lifting the European Championships two years ago.

That the triumph was achieved while sticking firmly to their footballing principles has made Vicente del Bosque’s side favourites, alongside Brazil, to claim glory in South Africa this summer.

However, with such success comes great expectation, something that sits uneasily on the shoulders of Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, the man whose goal against Germany won the Euro 2008 final for his country.

“We are considered as one of the favourites, which is to be expected,” says Torres. “But I recall back in 2004 when everyone in Spain said we were favourites for the European Championships in Portugal and it was the same for the World Cup in Germany.

“We hadn’t won any trophies, and we were not seen as favourites elsewhere. In Spain we think that everything revolves around us and that we are always favourites.

“We are now considered by others as one of the candidates, and we can’t escape that favourites tag. We don’t like being considered as favourites for the title but its something we have to live with.

“We feel it’s our chance and we want to take advantage of it. We feel it’s our turn and we want to continue to make history.”

Spain have never won the World Cup – indeed, their best finish of fourth place came 60 years ago in Brazil – but having lost just one of their last 46 games, a nation most certainly expects.

Coping with such pressure, though, has too often proven their downfall, most notably when they wilted in the spotlight as hosts back in 1982.

There is a reminder of that tournament this time around with del Bosque’s side drawn in the same group as Honduras, who held the Spaniards to a shock 1-1 draw 28 years ago.

With Chile and Switzerland making up the remainder of Group H, Spain should face a straightforward passage to the knockout stages where more testing challenges await.

But a wary Torres says: “On paper it’s an easy group, but still it’s a World Cup and we don’t want any problems. We have the experience of what happened to us at the Confederations Cup, but I think that we should qualify from our group without too many problems.

“The matches should serve as preparation for the knockout stages. But people have forgotten what happened to us against USA at the Confederations Cup. They weren’t given a chance, but they qualified from their group and went on to beat us.”

The USA, of course, inflicted Spain’s only competitive defeat since being eliminated by France in the second round of the World Cup four years ago with a surprise 1-0 triumph in the semi-finals of last year’s Confederations Cup.

It was a reminder Spain cannot rest on their laurels this summer, although the memory of previous World Cup surrenders against the likes of Paraguay, Northern Ireland and Nigeria will no doubt further focus the mind.

“We learned a lot at the World Cup in Germany,” says Torres, who is confident he has fully recovered from the knee operation that prematurely ended his Anfield campaign in April.

“We were on a learning curve and had developed a style, but we probably lacked maturity and France swept past us.

“They had plenty of self-belief, they believed that we could beat anyone, that their time had come, and they had to make the most of the opportunity. And that’s exactly what they did. They lost in the final but at least they were there. As for Spain, we laid the foundations and created an identity between 2006 and 2008, a style which is still very strong today.

“We won the European Championships and realised that we could be successful playing how we wanted to play the game. We just needed self-belief. Right now we have to enjoy ourselves and to also try to make the most of this opportunity.”

Despite his magnificent scoring record for Liverpool, and that Euro 2008 winner, Torres has not found goals as easy to come by for his country as strike partner David Villa.

But of feeling any pressure to be the tournament’s leading scorer, the 26-year-old adds: “No, but I know that, along with Villa, I’m lucky enough to be one of the strikers in a team that are among the favourites, and that brings certain privileges.”

Torres is joined in the Spain squad by Liverpool team-mate Pepe Reina and former Anfield favourites Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso.

And the striker believes the country where he plies his trade could prove a threat to hopes of glory in South Africa.

“England will be a tough team to face, and Brazil are always up there or thereabouts,” says Torres. “Argentina haven’t been playing well, but they are always in with a shout.

“The big teams will make it though to the final stages. If England can overcome their mental barrier then Spain versus England would be the perfect World Cup final.

“People say that Spain have the best starting XI in the world but when you look at England on paper, they have the second strongest XI in the world.

“In John Terry and Rio Ferdinand they have two of the best defenders. Stevie Gerrard is the greatest central midfielder on the planet and Wayne Rooney is one of the in-form players in football along with Lionel Messi. All they need to do now is break the mental barrier of going out at the quarter-final stage creates.”

As Spain and Torres have shown, it can be done.