Scott Parker admits England are still not in the same class as Spain but believes their organisation and commitment can help them progress at Euro 2012.
The midfielder played a part in England setting up a quarter-final meeting with Italy, and in the process avoid meeting the Spanish, via topping their group.
Parker is a realist and acknowledges the quality Spain possess but hopes England can cause an upset as they grow in confidence.
The Tottenham player told TheFA.com: "Everyone talks about Spain and how great they are at passing the ball. Not every team is as good as Spain, that's the reality.
"There's not many teams who have been as good as Spain since I've been alive. To think we are all of a sudden are going to turn into that is not what it's going to be.
"We are what we are, we're committed, we've got a good base, a good bunch of lads and with that you can go a long way. The more we progress we put more pressure on ourselves. We'll keep taking it step by step and then who knows?"
England are unbeaten in five games under Roy Hodgson, have conceded just three goals and become difficult to beat.
Parker said: "He (Hodgson) is very organised and you can see from the way we set up, that we're hard to break down.
"We showed that again [against Ukraine]. Our commitment and everything else is in abundance so hopefully we can carry on showing that.
"Fundamentally you need that as a side. From that, hopefully as the competition progresses, we can get more confident then, just maybe, we can upset it and keep going."
