Spain scrape past Luxembourg

Mendieta is Spain's hero against Luxembourg

Luxembourg 0 - 1 Spain

Spain are the latest of the Euro 2000 big guns to disappoint in a pre-tournament friendly, beating lowly Luxembourg only 1-0 in a woeful final preparation game at Luxembourg's Josy Barthel stadium on Wednesday.

With the game only two minutes old, Valencia midfielder Gaizka Mendieta beat Luxembourg goalkeeper Alija Besic from the edge of the area with a powerfully struck free-kick.

Alfonso Perez almost got a second after 19 minutes when his header hit the crossbar, but Spain were then frustrated until the hour mark before Besic had to deny defender Ivan Helguera's header.

From there on, however, the visitors showed little sparkle, and Luxembourg even less.

Raul: Rested for warm-up

Spain played the game without two of its main stars, Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez and Barcelona's midfield general Josep Guardiola, who both stayed at the team's Dutch training camp.

Spain play their first Group C game on 13 June against Norway. The team will also face Yugoslavia and Slovenia in the first stage.

Against footballing minnows Luxembourg, Spain dominated but created few chances, which will reawaken coach Jose Antonio Camacho's concerns over his team's recent lack of firepower.

Spain, however, qualified for Euro 2000 with the best goal record of any team. In 18 games under Camacho they scored 58 and let in just nine.

The side has only lost two games - one a friendly - since beginning its Euro 2000 campaign in late 1988.

Despite being one of the favored sides this year, Spain has a record for underachievement at the highest level.

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Luxembourg: Alija Besic, Jean Venek, Manon Schauls, Ralph Ferron, Jeff Strasser, Jeff Saibene, Laurent Deville, Luc Holtz, Marcel Christophe, Marc Cardoni, Sascha Schnieder.

Spain: Santiago Canizares, Sergi Barjuan, Abelardo Fernandez, Ivan Helguera, Juan Velasco, Vicente Engonga, Fran Gonzalez, Gaizka Mendieta, Juan Carlos Valeron, Pedro Munitis and Alfonso Perez.