Group leaders Spain and Italy meet on Saturday 2 Sept to decide more than likely who will secure first place in Group G play and direct a direct ticket to Russia 2018. This time the RFEF is not taking any chances by having the match played in a smaller venue as the match will be held in the Bernabeu: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu - Madrid Saturday 2 September 2017 20.45CET (20.45 local time) Group G - Matchday 7 The match can be seen here in the US at 1445 hrs EST/1145 hrs PST on Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes Here is the UEFA prematch guide: http://www.uefa.com/printoutfiles/competitions/worldcup/2018/e/e_2017797_pk.pdf Aupa Espana y La Furia Roja!
I'm kind of surprised that he called back Villa. With Costa not there, this would have been a pretty good game to give Morata the chance to become first choice. If you're going to play Villa now, what does that say to the other strikers' hopes of becoming Spain's striker. I think I saw Mariano as an option on some website when talking about the future of Spanish forwards, is he tied to Spain? It remains to be seen how he develops, but his start at Lyon was pretty good (so far)
Showing how little we have up front, our starting lineup doesn't include a natural forward. De Gea; Carvajal, Ramos, Piqué, Alba; Busquets, Koke, Iniesta, Isco, Asensio; Silva. For Italy: Buffon; Darmian, Barzagli, Bonucci, Spinazzola; De Rossi, Verratti; Candreva, Belotti, Immobile, Insigne. Italy's lineup looks really strong. The only advantage we have over them is our wide backs. Everything else I'd say is even or even Italy is stronger. I don't have a good feeling about this game
Spain looking to extend their 59 match unbeaten run in World Cup qualifiers dating back to the USA qualifiers in 1993.
Halftime... Spain 2-0 Italy 1-0 Isco 14' 2-0 Isco 40' Israel 0-0 FYR Macedonia Result Albania 2-0 Liechtenstein 1-0 Roshi 54' 2-0 Agolli 78'
He should have given Villa a couple more minutes. After the 3-0 the game was over anyway. He came all the way from the US for this game man. Sheesh. Maybe he'll go with a 2 striker system against Liechtenstein.
Albania 2-0 Liechtenstein 1-0 Roshi 54' 2-0 Agolli 78' Israel 0-1 FYR Macedonia 0-1 Pandev 73' Spain 3-0 Italy 1-0 Isco 14' 2-0 Isco 40' 3-0 Morata 77' Table after 7 (of 10) rounds. Group G ............. Pts ... GD Spain ...................... 19 ... +21 Italy ......................... 16 ... +11 Israel ........................ 9 ...... -4 Albania .................... 12 ..... +1 FYR Macedonia ....... 6 ...... -4 Liechtenstein ............ 0 .... -25 Group winner qualifies directly to Russia 2018. Runner-up will likely have to go through a playoff. Tuesday 5 Sep: Italy 20:45 Israel Liechtenstein 20:45 Spain FYR Macedonia 20:45 Albania
You might be right in some ways, but this game just proved that Ventura is not the manager for Italy. He needs to be sacked. Conte might have been embarrassed in friendly matches, but never lost like this in a serious match. Ventura is the opposite. Friendly matches do not count. I really was not happy with the whole way we approached the game. We had the players to win, but we did not have the tactics or really the game plan to be honest. Ventura basically approached this just like Prandelli used to approach games. Ventura out. Anyway good job guys, the game might have looked close at times, but you actually created the chances and found the goals, which is something we failed to do.
A match report of tonight's Spain v Italy game here if anyone is interested https://calcioecibo.com/football
Want to thank you guys for exposing Ventura and his useless 4-2-4. It might have worked nicely against San Marino, but Spain is a top national team and if Ventura learned anything here it's that four attackers who can't be serviced is a useless tactic. Well played by you guys!