"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome" Arthur Ashe

 Today on Twitter I found a link to a graphic on a Spanish news website illustrating the 42 passes that led to Spain's first goal against Scotland on Tuesday night. Every single player, including the goalkeeper, touched the ball at least once. The Scottish players might as well have joined the Tartan Army in the crowd.

The fact that neither Cesc Fabregas nor Andres Iniesta were involved in the move shows the strength in depth that Spain possesses. Despite being without two of their best midfield players Spain are still able to display their 'tiki-taka' style of football. And with no compromise on quality. Almost every national team in the world would have to alter their approach to games without their most important midfield players, but then not every team is World and European champion. Spain play like Barcelona but the technique, composure on the ball and passing ability is emphasised far more in the education of youngsters in most of Spain. These qualities at youth level have been shown in the country's success in the U21 European Championship this summer.

On BBC Breakfast this morning, there was talk of a local authority ceasing to release the results of football matches at under 12 level. The general consensus seemed to be that this was a bad thing, that it was failing the children by preventing them from having to deal with victory and defeat, one person even claimed it was a symptom of Britain's 'Nanny' culture. But I think the point was missed entirely. The philosophy in the UK too often is to get the ball down the pitch as quickly as possible and just make sure it ends up in the net.

Never mind patient approach play, achieved through intense technical coaching, just lazily hoof the ball up to the strikers and hope for a lucky bounce of the ball or a defensive mistake. From a very early age, boys learn that goals are all that matters and it is therefore the case that it doesn't matter how you score, just that you do. The ends justify the means, supposedly. But this approach has limitations, best illustrated by the lack of success by England and the other home nations. If, like in Spain, young boys were brought up to focus more on passing, movement and patience then they might stand half a chance. Unfortunately, the British approach favours limited players so it's far easier not to adopt Spain's approach. What's more, British football fans also have this impatience ingrained into them. If a team passes the ball around for too long in their own half, or involve the keeper for more than a couple of  touches, it is met with frustration and shouting to get the ball down the other end. What the Spanish seem to realise is that if your team has the ball, then the other team can't score.

I'm not suggesting that every club side should try to replicate Barcelona. Every team should play to its strengths, even if that means having to endure Stoke City narrowing their pitch to maximise the impact of long throws into the box. But I am suggesting that the FA, the FAW, the SFA and the IFA implement Spanish methods into the education of young footballers. Maybe then fewer teams would take the Stoke approach because British versions of players like Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta would emerge.

A counter argument to this would be that it is harder to win football matches the Barcelona way. But I don't believe that the end always justifies the means. People remember most champions because of their results, but people will remember Barcelona and Spain because of what happened during an entire 90 minutes. That's why Spain will not be remembered as the lowest scoring World Champions in history, but as the most technically gifted and admired team for a generation. When Spain play football, it looks an easy game, but if it were an easy game, everyone would play like that.

Cymru Magic

There cannot have been many days when it was more pleasing to be a Welshman. Our rugby team won a World Cup quarter-final for the first time in 24 years (and deserve much attention, which will have to wait for now), while 12 hours before that our footballers were finally giving their fans reasons to be hopeful about the future. More important than that, they gave their fans reasons to be proud to be Welsh. For too long that hasn't been the case.

Like most Wales supporters I was highly sceptical about the appointment of Gary Speed as national team coach. His complete lack of experience of any kind of management was for me, the main reason not to give him the job. I couldn't see how a manager with experience which amounted to just a handful of games in charge of Sheffield United in the Championship could outwit the likes of Fabio Capello and Ottmar Hitzfeld in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. I still feel international management should be earned on the sidelines and not on the pitch. 

Past and present captains of Wales

Despite that, I now happily have reasons to believe the FAW weren't completely wrong in their decision making. The 2010 World Cup qualifiers were the most miserable for some time under John Toshack and when the draw was made for the European Championship preliminaries, being in a five team group we didn't even have the comfort of knowing points would come against the likes of San Marino or Liechtenstein.

Four games and four defeats in and Wales had dropped to 112th in the world and the performances against Ireland and Scotland in the Carling Nations Cup weren't a positive distraction. Being a small nation it is vital that our best players play together as much as possible and that can be seen in the performances in the last couple of months. However, keeping them together is difficult. Bale, Ramsey and Bellamy are a fearsome trio but all three are susceptible to injury. The wins against Montenegro in Cardiff and Switzerland in Swansea last night showed how important they are to our prospects in the future. Saying that, even without the suspended Bellamy we should have got a draw in England were it not for Rob Earnshaw's much-publicised miss.

Because of financial constraints and family resistance, I don't have Sky at home. Even if I did it would be unlikely that I'd have Sky Sports 3 anyway. So few people would have seen the game last night without going to a pub thanks to the FAW and the ever dastardly Sky. In any case, Ramsey and Bale got on the score sheet at the Liberty Stadium against a Switzerland side who were alone in beating Spain in South Africa last year. This result eliminated the Swiss from the competition and the frustration was evident in manager Hitzfeld's post-match interview. The website of the Geneva Tribune has the German complaining about the red card issued to Reto Ziegler, the penalty awarded to Wales and the Swiss goal that the assistant referee overruled. Switzerland will be disappointed to miss out on the playoffs but it does mean that they will have their best players available for the Olympic Games next summer which is cause for optimism: Switzerland's under 21s finished runners-up to Spain in the European Championships this summer. Like their francophone neighbour Belgium, there are many talented young players coming through. Switzerland are likely to be a threat in the next World Cup qualifiers.

Xherdan Shaqiri, Swiss starlet

As for Wales, the population of our country will always mean we lack strength in depth but I don't think this can be used as an excuse for failure. Small countries can and do punch above their weight. One example is the strange and sudden emergence of Armenia. They have a population almost identical to Wales and go to Dublin on Tuesday with a decent chance of a playoff place, something unthinkable in previous years. Wales' World Cup group, unfortunately assembled while we were 112th in the world, should be beyond our capabilities. Going to Serbia and Croatia will be difficult, as will a feisty Hampden Park in Glasgow. In particular I would really want to attend our game with Belgium to see the likes of Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku. Our other opponents are Macedonia, bizarrely coached by John Toshack. He could spring a nasty surprise.

In any case, while I don't expect us to qualify for Brazil 2014, and would in fact be happy with a 4th place finish come October 2013, I don't dread the start of our next campaign as I did this one. Whatever the result of our final game in Bulgaria on Tuesday, the tentative signs are that we'll be competitive against most other countries, we have players who are capable and a manager who is hungry for success. While that alone is not enough to represent Europe at a World Cup I'm starting to feel proud of the team that represents Wales in international football. And surely that's what matters most.