Spain at the World Cup

Manager:Vicente Del Bosque
Captain: Iker Casillas
FIFA World Ranking: 2
World Cup Appearances: 12
Best World Cup: Fourth Place – 1950

Profile:

Spain will be arguably the most technically gifted side in the tournament if they secure the points they need to book their place in the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa next year. Manager Vicente Del Bosque has led his country to six consecutive victories in Group 5 and will be fully aware that a few more wins would be enough to secure top spot and more importantly, their berth into the World Cup.

Although Spain were overhauled as the World Best team in the FIFA World Rankings, after Brazil won the FIFA Confederations Cup back in June 2009, many still rate Spain as the World’s best right now and they will be a big player next summer. Spain could only settle for third in the Confederations Cup in South Africa and evidentially went on to lose their number one tag. That won’t matter too much to the players though as that should be the incentive they need to now up their game and go on another lengthy unbeaten run which could not only see them beat their feat of 35 games without defeat but also see them lift the Jules Rimet trophy in South Africa.

Manager:

Vicente Del Bosque is a veteran in his managerial career and is not short of a success or two. In his playing career, he spent all his days as a defender, winning five Spanish La Liga titles with Spanish giants Real Madrid. He then went on to manage Real Madrid after he hung up his playing boots and led the club to their most successful period between 1999-2003, winning a brace of Champions League titles along with two La Liga titles.

Del Bosque’s also has bags of experience when it comes to managing ‘big players’. Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo were all under his guidance while at Real Madrid and moulded the three legends of football into a world class act. He will be aiming to do the same with Spain and he certainly has a host of quality players at his disposal.

Key Players:

Iker Casillas -

There has been an ongoing debate for some time about who is the best goalkeeper in the world but for the last decade or so, Iker Casillas has always been in the frame. He has been Real Madrid’s best ever goalkeeper and arguably Spain’s greatest ever, also. Lightening fast reactions, quick reflexes and his immense presence in his own penalty area makes for one of the worlds finest goalkeepers and when Casillas is on top of his game, it really does take something extraordinary to beat him.

David Villa & Fernando Torres -

Most sides will be lucky to have one quality forward but Spain are braced with two of the worlds finest strikers in the game today. Valencia’s David Villa and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres make for one of the most feared striking partnerships in world football. Torres has 22 goals in 67 games for Spain while Villa can better that with 31 goals in just 49 games. Both posses tonnes of pace, bags of skill and the ability to turn a game completely on it’s head. Defenders really do need to be on top form to keep just one at bay, let alone the pair of them.

Xavi & Iniesta -

The World’s most skilful players often enjoy the limelight in football today but if you ask any football purist who they think the best player in the world is, we bet these two would get an awful lot of mentions. The pair have the ability to not only control a match but also dictate how it will be played. They take the game by the scruff of the neck and make things happen with their swift one-two’s and their inch-perfect through balls. The duet are a lethal combination at both club and international level and often feature in the opposing managers tactics. If you want to halt the Spanish express, you’ll need to find a way to stop the source.

Strengths:

Spain’s biggest asset is their ability to retain the ball. Quick and slick should be their motto. Their crisp passing doesn’t just get them out of sticky situations but it also creates chance after chance and it’s a defenders nightmare keeping up with the pace of Spain’s passing. They switch the flank at every opportunity in a bid to expose the opposing full-backs and their own full-backs forward and they will look to bombard the defence with crosses. The good thing about Spain’s play is they can vary their style of play. One moment they will be feeling out the oppositions defence with the short, crisp passing while the next they’ll be flinging the ball out to Sergio Ramos & Capdevilla to whip the ball into the forwards. This makes reading the play very hard and is one of the reasons why Spain have become so successful in recent years.

Weakness:

Spain’s passing maybe close to perfection but they’re a side who can pass the ball around too much in a bid to score the ‘perfect goal’. Spain generally don’t have a problem against sides that attack them, despite their defence not being the strongest, but when a team sets up in a defensive manner and puts 10 men behind the ball, Spain can often struggle to break these teams down. Too much time is wasted in the centre of the park and were a big side to go one-nil up, it’s feasible that they could then hold out the Spanish attacks and use Spain’s strength to their advantage.

Qualification:

Sector: Europe
Group: 5
Position: 1st
Win-Draw-Lose: 6-0-0
Goals Scored: 13
Goals Conceded: 2

Qualifying statistics:

Del Bosque’s side have yet to taste defeat in qualifying after six qualifiers.
Spain have notched up six straight victories to maintain a 100% record in their qualifying campaign.
Iker Casillas has conceded just two goals in qualifying and shares the leanest defensive record along with Denmark & Hungary.
David Villa has been unstoppable in front of goal, scoring 5 goals in just six qualifiers.
Spain have maintained an impressive disciplinary record in qualifying with not a single red card in any of their qualifying games thus far.

World Cup Potential:         5/5

To say Spain have a chance of taking home the trophy next year would be a huge understatement. The Spanish have one of the strongest sides in the world and the thousands of travelling Spanish fans will be expecting big things from the current European Champions. Their squad is full to the brim of talented players that could win a game in the blink of an eye. Spain will be one of the main contenders for the World Cup crown in 2010 and their odds to win outright underline this.

Current World Cup Odds:      5/1 – Bet365 (FAV)

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