KO for this match on Thursday 3 June is 1800 hrs CET, 0900 hrs PDT. Here is the probable starting XI for the Furia Roja as Del Bosque is giving 7 of the non-starters a chance to possibly earn a slot on the WC2010 starting XI: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Marchena, Capdevila; Busquets; Navas, Javi Martínez, Iniesta, Mata and Villa. Aupa Espanha! Er Pichi
Isn't Javi Martinez a holding mid? What's with Del Bosque trying to use a 2 D-Mid formation all of a sudden.
Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu Thursday kickoff 18:00 Central European 12 noon eastern/9am pacific U.S. Recent form last six international results • SPAIN: WWWWWW 3-2 Saudi Arabia (N) 2-0 France (A) 5-1 Austria (A) 2-1 Argentina (H) 5-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina (A) 2-1 Armenia (A) • KOREA REPUBLIC: LWWWWL 0-1 Belarus (N) 2-0 Japan (A) 2-0 Ecuador (H) 2-0 Côte d'Ivoire (N) 3-1 Japan (A) 0-3 China (N) Last meeting 22 June 2002 2002 World Cup quarterfinal in Kwangju Korea Republic 0-0 Spain Korea Republic win 5-3 on penalties History Matches: 3 Spain wins: 1 Korea Republic wins: 0 Draws: 2 Goals scored: Spain 5, Korea Republic 3
And it hardly works. The DM's get into each others way. Stick with one DM, use two cm/om and 2 wingers with one forward.
The problem is that none of the DMs on the Spain roster can really play solo at the back. I fear Spain might get run over in the midfield against the better teams if they use only one DM. Martinez is probably the only one remotely capable of playing by himself at the back of the midfield, and I doubt Del Bosque will throw him into the lineup just like that.
Looks like Victor Valdes may start and Cesc may get some playing time: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/preview?id=289218&league=FIFA.FRIENDLY&cc=5901 Aupa Espanha! Er Pichi
Spain wil lose ahahahahahahahah LOSE ahahahahahahahahahaha lose hahahahahahahahahahahahaha they will lose whahahahahawhawhaahahahahahahaha nah im only kidding, Spain will probably kick our ass.
CONFIRMED starting lineup [LINEUP-4-5-1]Llorente, Mata, Cesc, Navas, Javi Martínez, Iniesta, Capdevila, Marchena, Albiol, Sergio Ramos, Reina[/LINEUP-4-5-1] Substitutes: Casillas, Valdés, Piqué, Puyol, Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso, Busquets, Xavi, Silva, Pedro, Villa, Torres Pretty sure Reina will give way to Valdes at halftime.
Re: CONFIRMED starting lineup Sure you don't have the positioning wrong? I imagine both Navas and Mata should be on the wings. Cesc would be more central.
Re: CONFIRMED starting lineup Sorry, I listed them as MARCA had it and then got called away and didn't get a chance to edit. Just turned on the game now and saw Navas out right as expected.
Re: CONFIRMED starting lineup Good saves by Reina there in the end, basically the only thing I saw from the game since I just came home.
Re: International friendly Been mostly spain with Navas providing the most threat. However, it has really been just a game where spain has controlled play but with little threat to goal.
Re: International friendly edit: Llorente can give an impact from the bench because he adds a different sort of striker to the mix than either Villa or Torres are, I'd rather he came off the bench than us playing like that from the start though. It also helps if he has another striker playing alongside him so that the defenders don't only focus on him. Well I see on Marca that neither Villa, Xavi or Torres are playing so that explains the lack of goals. I also see that Javi Martinez got the def mid to himself, how did that work out?
Tough to say about Javi Martinez. Other than the end in which Reina saved those shots, South Korea hasn't shown much.