Euro 2012: Spain-Ireland 14 June (R)

A must win game. I expect the same lineup with one change, Torres will start up top instead of Cesc.

********ing Torres.

Might as well play Torres and hope he can bag 1 or 2 to boost his confidence,

He's going to bag 1 or 2 because it's Ireland (no offense) and then some will say that he's back and THAT's why he should be starting, and then we'll face a better opponent and he'll be back to his normal self.

I hope Del Bosque can surprise once again and just put ********ing Llorente in the starting line-up.

What makes you think Del Bosque will ever put Llorente into the starting lineup? He'll start Negredo before Llorente.

Ireland is going to bunker (its not going to be the Ireland of the Croatia game)
All Ireland needs is a tie from this game and if we field an entire midfield to score.. we are in trouble.

We'll also have to be smart about conceding free kicks and corners.

I was meant to post this here and I can't delete my post.

Here is how Del Bosque's brain works:

I have a selection of six strikers, these are: Llorente, Soldado, Adrián, Raúl, Torres and Negredo. I can only pick 3 of them, so I will pick the two who have scored the least goals and also bring Llorente because he was at the World Cup and could work as a good luck charm, but I won't actually play him because he scores a lot of goals and I don't like that. I also want my opponents to be happy because I like to get along with everyone.

When the match arrives, I will look at my three strikers and decide that, actually, the midfielder Cesc, who just came out of an injury, is the best choice for striker. In the second half, when I actually decide to bring on a true striker, it will obviously be the one who scores the least.

My plan to play Cesc as a striker was to surprise Italy's defenders, but against Ireland I have a different plan, this time I want to surprise the strikers so I will play with no defence.

Joder Oscar... Torres had a hat-trick today - - - in training!! He is "en fuego". This is the Ruud "goals are like ketchup" right before our eyes!!

Images from Tuesday's training.

We are expecting ultra defensive tactics from the Irish... Torres is terrible at situations like this.
I really hope we see Llorente the next game because a tie would be disastrous

I agree with most that Torres' finishing is way off from where it should be to earn the start. However his work rate, integration, and potential are all there. I am not sold on Negredo, and for some reason, Llorente is only viewed by Del Bosque as a fill-in role player. So Torres will again get the start, and unlike those teams that huddle in a tight defensive formation to stifle Torres, I don't think the Irish have the athletic ability to contain his runs without risking critical fouls. But yes, it would be a mistake for Del Bosque not to at least bring in Llorente for a test if the game is in hand.

I miss David Villa from the squad though.

Wednesday's training session took place before noon and featured an intense practice match. Wearing the green vests were Alba, Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Busquets, Piqué, Torres, Cazorla, Silva, Negredo and Mata. The team without the vests had Albiol, Javi Martínez, Juanfran, Pedro, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Navas, Cesc, Llorente and Iniesta.
The squad will travel to Gdansk in just under two hours from now with the evening devoted to the obligatory player press conferences. With no workouts scheduled for inside the PGE Arena this was to be the final session before Thursday's crucial encounter against the Republic of Ireland.

MARCA reporting one change from Italy lineup... Torres in place of Cesc.

Casillas
Arbeloa ... Piqué ... S.Ramos ... Alba
Xavi ... Busquets ... X.Alonso
Silva ... Torres ... Iniesta

(one booking from suspension)

Del Bosque is so easy to predict. Anyway, why 2 holding mids versus Ireland?

Republic of Ireland
From Croatia game, Cox replaces Doyle...

Given; O'Shea, St. Ledger, Dunne, Ward; Andrews, Whelan; Duff, McGeady; Keane, Cox

Mandzukic equalizes for Croatia!
Draw definitely helps Spain so fingers crossed. Roughly 20 minutes to play.

RFEF twitter...
Spain arrival 15 minutes ago.

Result:
Italy 1-1 Croatia

Croatia ......... 4 points
Italy ............. 2
Spain ............ 1
Ireland ......... 0

Spain need to beat Ireland by three goals to take over first place.
Spain 2-0 means Croatia leads group.
Spain 3-1 pulls Spain level with Croatia.
Spain 4-2 or higher two goal victory puts Spain in first place.

Non-victory today puts Croatia game as do or die.

So Italy-Croatia ends tied at 1. Which means that a win today means we'd just need a 2-2 draw against Croatia to go through. And that beating Ireland better (more goals or larger goal difference) than 3-1 gives us the tiebreaker against Croatia.

Opta stat...
Spain have won 17 of 18 competitive games with Torres starting under Del Bosque (0-2 v USA, 2009 Confederations Cup).

Goal Torres!