Cape Town - Xabi Alonso feels only now, after Spain's 2014 World Cup
disaster, do his compatriots realise what the team achieved over the
last six years.
La Furia Roja had dominated world football for more than half a decade, winning the 2010 World Cup either side of their back-to-back European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012.
However, Vicente Del Bosque's men endured a vastly flawed campaign at Brazil 2014, where their final group stage win against Australia meant little as they had already been dumped out of the tournament after losing their opening two games.
And, with the Spanish national team having arrived back home on Wednesday, Alonso feels the country did not appreciate their past successes as much as they should have.
"It hurts but the group is carrying it in the same way as our victories," said the Real Madrid midfielder.
"Now we value what we achieved and how hard it is. During the process we didn't value it as much."
Looking back over their Group A losses, where they went down 5-1 to the Netherlands and 2-0 to Chile, Alonso added: "We tried but we weren't at our level. Both (Netherlands and Chile) played very well and we didn't know how to react."
La Furia Roja had dominated world football for more than half a decade, winning the 2010 World Cup either side of their back-to-back European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012.
However, Vicente Del Bosque's men endured a vastly flawed campaign at Brazil 2014, where their final group stage win against Australia meant little as they had already been dumped out of the tournament after losing their opening two games.
And, with the Spanish national team having arrived back home on Wednesday, Alonso feels the country did not appreciate their past successes as much as they should have.
"It hurts but the group is carrying it in the same way as our victories," said the Real Madrid midfielder.
"Now we value what we achieved and how hard it is. During the process we didn't value it as much."
Looking back over their Group A losses, where they went down 5-1 to the Netherlands and 2-0 to Chile, Alonso added: "We tried but we weren't at our level. Both (Netherlands and Chile) played very well and we didn't know how to react."