Germany have the winning instinct needed to clinch Euro 2008 title

Jun 29 2008 Gordon Waddell

IT'S not about talent. Not about the ability to play. At the top they can all do that.

It's about the ability to win. And don't Germany know it.

Even for a team who have a rotten keeper and honking back four they know what it takes to get over the line.

Watch a replay of Bastian Schweinsteiger when he scores for Germany then gives it the full Freddie Mercury, chest puffed out.

He looks like the most arrogant sod ever. But it's not just arrogance, it's knowledge too. The strength to know Germany have the game won even before they've won it.

Which walks hand in hand with the weakness of fearing you're going to lose before you actually have.

Look at Tiger Woods in the US Open. Standing over that 15-foot putt on 18, needing it to get into a play-off.

One leg broken and his knee in carnage but Tiger knew he was draining it.

And did anyone think he wouldn't? Even Rocco Mediate, the guy who would have won if Woods had missed, rolled his eyes into his head when asked.

"Of course I knew he'd make it. He's Tiger."

And when Rocco stood over his 16-footer in sudden death do you think even he believed? Because no-one else did, did they?

The difference between ability and greatness IS arrogance. A trait we hate in everyday life yet one we love to see in sport. Actually, strike that - one you need in sport.

We know Germany have it. The question is, do Spain?