When our guest house owner popped into the lounge to watch Germany's victory over England, it took her only a couple of minutes to suss out the situation.

"England doesn't have enough good players," she pronounced. "Why doesn't their owner buy some?"

A quick explanation of international football ensued – they would buy some Spaniards, Dutch and Germans if the rules allowed, we explained – but her naïve comment neatly summed up the problem facing most European countries these days. How to compete with the Spanish?

For two years now, they have exerted their dominance, first at the European Championships of 2008, and now at the World Cup. In between, several of them – wearing Barcelona colours – won the 2009 Champions League.

On Sunday, at Soccer City in Soweto, the Dutch descendants of total football were more intent on destroying than creating, tacitly admitting that they couldn't compete with Spain without first trying to kick them off the park.

Employing two midfield destroyers in Nigel deJong and Mark van Bommel, they were fortunate to finish the match with 10 men – deJong could have been dismissed for a high foul on Xabi Alonso, while van Bommel could probably be sent off in nearly every match he plays.

It is easy to admire those types of players – both work extremely hard on behalf of their team – but the presence of two of their kind in midfield just confirmed that the Spanish midfield of Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, and the substitute Fabregas is feared as much as it is admired.

Xavi is now 30, and Alonso's next birthday will be his 30th. Carles Puyol is 32.

So perhaps there's some hope for the countries of Europe as qualifying matches for the 2010 European Championships to be held in Poland and Ukraine draw near.

Holland and Germany will be particularly encouraged by the performances of their teams here - the Dutch fell just a goal short, and the Germans lost to Spain by the same small margin. But what about the rest of Europe?

The English, French and Italian challenges here were feeble, only England qualifying for the second round. We will never know if Frank Lampard's 'equaliser' might have produced a different result – battling back from 2-0 down was no small feat in itself – but, on balance, England were distinctly second best against a German side whose top performers, Miroslav Klose aside, are in their mid-20s, or younger.

The answer, for the English, French, Italians and others who seek to emulate the Spanish, is likely to involve longer-term planning than simply re-loading for the next European Championship, and the next World Cup. It's perhaps no coincidence that the three best European teams here have dominated the age group championships in Europe over the last decade.

Germany won the 2009 UEFA under-21 title, while The Netherlands won the two tournaments before that. Spain have won the under-19 UEFA championship four times since 2001. Their players, properly trained in basic skills and techniques as well as the ability to think their way through a match, make the transition to the national squad look easy. Six players made the jump from Germany's 2009 under-21 side to the World Cup squad - goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, defender Jerome Boateng, midfielders Mesut Oezil and Sami Khedira and forward Thomas Muller, all made significant contributions in South Africa.

Spain's World Cup winners had many youthful contributors, too. Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas are 23, Pedro is 22, Sergio Busquets just 21, while Jesus Navas and David Silva are 24.

In England, fans might well ask who the successors are to those who failed so dismally in South Africa. Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young have their admirers, as does Theo Walcott. Some believe that Danny Welbeck has promise and then, of course, there are Jack Rodwell at Everton, Jack Wilshere at Arsenal, and the goalkeeper, Joe Hart. But do those names inspire you if you are English, or strike fear into you if you are Spanish? Not likely.

Domination by Spain, Germany and Holland is likely to continue in the short term. Along the way, we will admire teams like the plucky Slovaks – their 3-2 victory over Italy was one of the games of the tournament – and, occasionally, other countries will step up, perhaps Portugal, and sometimes a completely unfancied team, like Greece in 2004.

But unless FIFA allows countries like England to buy players – I'll have Villa and Xavi, Kaka and Robinho, Pique and Casillas, I can hear Fabio Capello say – the short term outlook in Europe seems very predictable indeed.

Veteran World Cup observer Duncan Hall is reporting exclusively from South Africa for The Royal Gazette.