Bloemfontein, South Africa  - A day ahead of their Confederations Cup Group A match against Iraq, Spain are comfortably carrying the burden of tournament favourites and world's number one team.

They also are one win away from equalling the most consecutive international victories - the record is 14, held by Australia, Brazil and France - and two matches from the longest consecutive unbeaten streak in national team history, a run of 35 games established by Brazil in the 1990s.

Following the way they tore New Zealand apart in their Confederations Cup opener, 5-0, few would doubt that the Spanish seem destined for further greatness. Even old hand, Iraq coach Bora Milutinovic, was full of hyperbole on Tuesday, hailing Spain's "golden generation."

"Everything is going perfect for them right now," he said. "This is how it is for the biggest teams in the world. They hit form and are unbeatable, like Brazil in 1970, Italy in 1982 and France in the '90s."

Speaking to media at Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium, midfielder Xabi Alonso was honoured by the Serb's words.

"That's certainly a big compliment coming from Bora, who knows a lot about football," he said before sounding a cautious tone. "But we need to remember what brought us to this stage, so we are ignoring any comparisons like this."

It was a sentiment echoed by central defender Carlos Puyol. "It's important to rip up new records and write history, and it will be a big compliment if we are able to," he said. "But we don't focus on it. We want the streak to go on because of the results, not the record."

Coach Vincente del Bosque added even more warning for the La Furia Roja and it's supporters, saying: "Spanish fans have always been too pessimistic about their national team, and now it seems like they are too optimistic. For example, they are talking about winning the 2010 World Cup, but we haven't even qualified yet.

"It's important not to get carried away," he finished.

But the usually stern boss admitted it would be an impressive achievement to break the records.

"There is undoubtedly extra motivation," he admitted. "And it's good to be considered on the same level with such great teams, but of course our number one goal is to reach the semi-finals here and let those things take care of themselves."

When asked whether the European champions have peaked in form, defender Carlos Marchena said the challenge for the Spanish was to "keep getting better for every match and to keep the ambition to win. That is our main challenge."

One of the players tasked with maintaining the team's focus is one of the team leaders, Puyol, who pinpointed when things started to turn around for Spain, who were previously considered perennial underachievers on the international stage.

"Beating Italy at the European Championships was an important day for us," he confirmed referring to the 0-0 penalty victory over the world champions in the quarter-finals last year. "We believed at that point that we could go all the way.

"The talent has always been there for Spain, that's for sure. The difference now is the confidence that we have in ourselves, and we want to take advantage of the momentum we have to keep getting more wins." (dpa)