Spain coach Luis Aragones is determined to do well at this summer's World Cup finals and insists it is time for the excuses to stop.

Spain have gone into many recent tournaments as one of the favourites to taste success but invariably under-achieve and Aragones is desperate to improve his country's recent record in World Cups.

"We've got to banish the excuse mentality," he told AS. "I've never liked alibis that don't justify anything. We have to go into every game convinced that we can win and if that doesn't happen, then off we go home."

Spain qualified for Germany thanks to a 6-2 aggregate win over Slovakia in the play-offs and the veteran coach added: "That game helped us change and allowed us to start dreaming about what we could achieve.

"After that game, the team, players and the fans rediscovered their enthusiasm.

"I have 23 good reasons to believe in this team and in Spanish football. But we have to keep our feet on the ground and take things one step at a time. That is the only way we will be able to get close to the favourites."