Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002 for spain

After a 3–2 opening defeat to Cyprus in Euro 2000 qualifying, Clemente was fired and José Antonio Camacho was promptly appointed as coach. Camacho immediately turned Spain's campaign around and Spain won the rest of their games to qualify for Euro 2000, including two 9–0 wins against Austria and San Marino. Once again Spain's hopes rested on a new coach and young players such as Raúl González, Fernando Morientes, Míchel Salgado, and Juan Carlos Valerón. Spain again were going to a major competition as one of the contenders for the title. In the final tournament Spain were in group C with Norway, Slovenia, and Yugoslavia. As always, Spain started their campaign with disappointment, losing 1–0 to the Norwegians. But Spain got back into the tournament with a 2–1 victory over the Slovenians. Their last game proved to be another nerve wreck as they looked to be going out of the tournament. Their last game was against Balkan powerhouse Yugoslavia. Spain started the match nervously by going down “0 with a goal from Yugoslav forward Savo MiloÅ¡ević. Alfonso Pérez was able to put a goal back for Spain in the 38th minute ending the first half with a “1 score. However, shortly after halftime Spain went down again 2–1, but made it 2–2 on 51th minute with a goal by Pedro Munitis. Spain went down yet again for the third time, with the score 3–2 at 75 minutes. With only fifteen minutes left Spain desperately searched for an equalizer. After throwing every player forward Spain was still down 3–2, but at the 90th minute another Spanish goal from a late penalty by Gaizka Mendieta and a dramatic second goal by Alfonso Pérez in the dying seconds of stoppage time astonishingly turned the game around making the final score 4–3 for Spain. Spain finished at the top of group C to book a quarterfinal clash with 1998 World Cup Champions, France. After the thrilling clash with Yugoslavia, Spain were confident in shocking the world champions. The game began with a dramatic first half with bombardment of both goals. The half ended 1 for the French. However, late in the second half Spain was awarded a penalty.  Gonzà lez took the spot kick but shot over the crossbar. Despite a strong Spanish attack France held on to win and knock Spain out prematurely. Disappointment and sadness swept Spain as the team could not impress their fans and suffered yet another quarterfinal exit.

Spain hoped once again for a good World Cup impression in 2002 in the Far East. Qualifying went as expected for Spain as they topped an easy group consisting of Austria, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein. Under Camacho, Spain hoped that lessons learned from Euro 2000 would bring them better luck. But for Santiago Cañizares it was bad luck. Right before the competition started, he got injured and couldn't participate as the starting goalkeeper. This gave then 21 year–old Iker Casillas the starting position. In the final tournament Spain were drawn into group B with Slovenia, Paraguay, and South Africa. This time Spain began the World Cup very strongly with 3–1 victories over Slovenia and Paraguay and a 3–2 victory over South Africa. This was also the first time since the 1950 World Cup that Spain started the competition with a win. A lot of supporters saw this as a sign (since Spain's best ever finish in a World Cup was at the 1950 World Cup, finishing 4th). Spain topped the group with nine points to face off a second round contest with the Republic of Ireland. An early goal from Spanish striker Fernando Morientes gave hope to the Spaniards. With just stoppage time remaining after the 90th minute, Fernando Hierro brought Robbie Keane down in the penalty box and Ireland was awarded a penalty. The same man who had been fouled pulled the Irish level and the game went to extra-time where, unexpectedly, Spain was left with nine players on the field due to back-to-back injuries and no more sub-ins available. However, Spain were able to hold on and force the penalty shoot-out, where the young Iker Casillas proved himself worthy of the starting goalkeeper spot, stopping three penalties. Spain came out on top with a 3–2 victory. Spain booked a quarterfinal berth with hosts Korea Republic who upset Italy in round two. Spanish fans were confident this was the year Spain was to progress beyond the quarterfinals in any major tournament since Euro 84. After a hard fought 120 minutes and two disallowed goals for the Spaniards (The referee disallowed Fernando Morientes' goal on the ground that the ball had gone out of play. However replays showed that the ball was still in play.), Spain faced another penalty shootout. Spain scored three penalties as did Korea. However, Spain's worst nightmare became reality after Joaquín had his penalty saved. Korea scored their last two penalties through Ahn Jung-Hwan and Hong Myung-Bo to knock Spain out of the 2002 World Cup. Spanish fans were shocked by another successive, and highly controversial, quarterfinal exit.