On Raul... after Spain gets knocked out of Euro 2004 by losing to POrtugal

It seems funny starting a thread criticising a player who has been one of my favourites for almost 10 years. But I can't help feeling one of both Real Madrid's and Spain's biggest problems of late has been the refusal to bench Raul. I know that he is talismanic, he symbolises both teams, and has achieved more at age 27 than most players will at 34. But we cannot deny that he has been off form for over 6 months now, and the king has lost his midas touch. I find it absurd that despite his obvious lack of form, he plays 90 minutes of almost every game, that leaave alone being benched at the start, he is rarely benched even during games. I hope that his performance at the Euros is a wake-up call to the Madrid fans who kept blaming Ronaldo for Raul's failures, and for keeping Moro out of the squad. It's clear that Ronaldo was why the team made it to Europe (with Casillas) and if anyone should make way for Moro, it's raul.
Similarly, Spain would have been better off with Valeron behind Moro or Torres (or both).
But no, because Quireoz did not have the balls and Saez did not have the balls, and all that we can do is weep.
Sometimes, it feels like we are so blinded by the past, that we don't see the present. Our "captain" is a player, a human... not some divine diety who cannot be touched.
All I can hope for is that Camacho realises this next year.