I was waiting for a performance that came close to the heights of Euro 2008 and on Wednesday it arrived. If anything, they are better than two years ago because while Spain still have that wonderful balance and appreciation of the importance of possession, they now look practically impossible to score against too.

Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique may have none of the star dust of David Villa or the frankly magnificent Xabi but they are vital cogs in the wheel and a German side that struck with reckless counter-attacking abandon against England and Argentina barely got a chance.

For final opponents Holland, it must have been a petrifying sight. As Germany boss Joachim Loew pointed out afterwards, how are you supposed to beat a team when you barely touch the ball?

I think a Spanish victory is now the only way to invest this World Cup with some historical significance. There have been only a few truly memorable footballing moments out in South Africa but if Spain win, it will be an undisputed triumph and that will make it a tournament worth savouring.

Spain are so good, they've improved so much in the last four years that no-one could bemoan them adding the World title to the European crown they won two years ago. And after a medicore Italian side lifted the trophy in 2006, it will be nice to talk about world champions not through gritted teeth.

By all accounts South Africa have done a fine job hosting the tournament but let's be perfectly honest, this has not been a classic competition by any stretch of the imagination.

As amusing as it has been to watch world football's all-star roster of talent tripped up by their own egos, it would have been infinitely preferable if Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres and Cristiano Ronaldo had performed anywhere close to their capabilities.

To have none of them post a single memorable display was a monumental disappointment and the World Cup was so much poorer for it.

Cheats, once again, prospered and the rise to prominence of Mark Van Bommell, the depressingly cynical actions of Luis Suarez and a few terrible refereeing decisions left a bad taste in the mouth.

I also found the attitude of some of the pundits to the competition to be deeply depressing. They have improved as the World Cup has gone on but the way the likes of North Korea, Slovakia, Honduras, Algeria and the other supposed minnows were dismissed with a wave of the hand and a 'We don't know much about these lot' by Alan Hansen and company was equally as insufferable as the vuvuzelas.

But as much as those things contributed to a distinctly average month and a bit, I think the tournament suffered just as acutely because there was such a huge gap between the five best teams and the rest.

Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Holland and Germany were so much better than the rest that they may as well have had their own little mini-league. I suspect that the two South American giants actually paid the price for this in the end, tripping themselves up by racking up easy wins against the rest that left them singularly ill-prepared when they actually came up against teams capable of causing them problems.

England are included in that mess and little in the fortnight since their rough eviction from South Africa has satisfied me that we really understand the size of the task facing us over the next four years.

Arsenal have signed a French centre-back for £8.5million, Manchester City have nipped in for David Silva and even Harry Redknapp - the man who would be England manager - is looking abroad to strengthen his Champions League-bound side. While the Continent remains the first port of call for Premier League managers, our national side will continue to rely on the Golden Generation until they become so old that they can no longer carry on. Certainly, those discredited players will form the basis of the first post-World Cup debacle side selected by Fabio Capello in five weeks - and that is worrying.

Our displays were so bad, our tactics, approach and attitude so far below the big five that I cannot see where we go from here. Even the anger at the 4-1 defeat to Germany disappeared quickly, replaced by an ambivalence and an acceptance that we're just not good enough.

At the moment, the Three Lions feel like a complete irrelevance and when Spain pass their way into history on Sunday I have a feeling that climbing to the top of the world will feel further away than ever.