Pre-match: Match 56: Spain-Portugal (29 June) Pre-Match

XIX FIFA World Cup - Match #56



Cape Town - Green Point
Tuesday kickoff
20:30 Central European
2:30pm eastern/11:30am pacific U.S.


Recent form last six international results
• SPAIN: WWWLWW
2-1 Chile (N)
2-0 Honduras (N)
0-1 Switzerland (N)
6-0 Poland (H)
1-0 Korea Republic (N)
3-2 Saudi Arabia (N)
• PORTUGAL: DWWDWD
0-0 Brazil (N)
7-0 Korea DNP (N)
0-0 Côte d'Ivoire (N)
3-0 Mozambique (H)
3-1 Cameroon (H)
0-0 Cape Verde Islands (H)


Last meeting
20 June 2004
EURO 2004 Group Stage in Lisbon
Spain 0-1 Portugal
0-1 Nuno Gomes 57'


History
Matches: 32
Spain wins: 15
Portugal wins: 5
Draws: 12
Goals scored: Spain 71, Portugal 37

 

Man I hope we can get an early goal. Having to sit there and watch a bunker team all game long is going to be torture.

 

IMO you guys made a big mistake in not giving Fernando Llorente any playing time because his addition would give a big advantage by adding a big size and aerial threat to Spain's attack which Villa simply cannot provide. It would have also made Villa play better by creating more space for him, especially considering that Torres wasn't that fit to begin with...

 

Queiroz: "Lo mejor de Portugal está por venir en los próximos partidos"

He must be talking about the games following the world cup when Portugal get a new coach.

Vamos España, I'll stop smoking if we win this world cup. If that isn't incentive I don't know what is.

 

First set of images coming from Saturday's training session show Raul Albiol in tremendous pain. Initial reports say it's a knee injury.

 

Good thing none of our defenders are in danger of getting a 2nd yellow, I don't think we can still get another player if he wouldn't be able to play anymore.

 

I hipe bringing just 7 defenders doesn't bite us in the ass.

 

Match 56 Officials

Officials have been announced.

Referee: Hector Baldassi (Argentina)
Assistants: Ricardo Casas and Hernan Maidana
Fourth official: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)




This will be the Argentine team's fourth match during this tournament.
In total Baldassi has issued 10 yellow cards with one double booking (Serbia's Aleksandar Lukovic).

13/06/2010: Serbia 0-1 Ghana (4 bookings, 1 double booking)
19/06/2010: Holland 1-0 Japan (1 booking)
25/06/2010: Switzerland 0-0 Honduras (5 bookings)

 

I only count 6. I thought Marchena was only brought along to be the waterboy.

 

Saturday's training session

As has been custom throughout the tournament, training following a match day only involved players that were not in the starting lineup except Casillas.

 

Re: Saturday's training session











Scans will be conducted on Albiol's right leg on Sunday to determine the severity of the injury.

Sunday's workout will be held without media being present.

 

Re: Saturday's training session

Albiol's injury not severe LINK

 

wishing for fairplay game with best team winning.

hopefully whoever wins this can go to the final. that seems to be the attitude from most the spain fans' comments on marca.. its about time one of our teams made it to the finals.

 

I'm starting to believe in Del Bosque, mostly because Cruyff doesn't.

Why doesn't he say anything about Holland with van Bommel en de Jong? Most teams in the WC with the biggest chances to win play with more than 1 defensive mid. And Xabi isn't even on the most defensive side of the defensive mid players.

I'm flip flopping for Del Bosque just like I did with Aragones in 2008.

 

So you agree with Del Bosque in order to spite Cruyff's big mouth?

He is just stating what most of us have been saying for months, nothing new here.

 

Also because Xabi and Busquets have been pretty good so far in my opinion.

Brasil play with 3 defensive mids, the Dutch with 2, you should see the media here praising the coach for "finally" making a Dutch squad think effective (because they got 9 out of 3) instead of wanting to play beautifull (since they played horrible) "The Germans are playing like the Dutch, and the Dutch like the Germans".

I don't believe Xavi is only playing less than great because of his position but also because of his injury, as playing as a 10 (which he doesn't even do constantly now) should be no problem for him. To be honest I see him playing as a cm who goes forward more than Xabi does, as opposed to playing as a 10. Or else he's a 10 that goes back to the mid a lot which is pretty much the same thing.

Fact is we've got 2 fullbacks who don't/can't go back as quick as a fullback should when you lose the ball, I think having 2 defensive mids of which one plays more as a cm, isn't that bad to gain some control in that respect. We've got to agree that neither Xabi or Busquets are as good as a defensive mid as Senna was, playing only one of them to do what he did could give us problems.

 

I agree about the fullbacks part. But I disagree with you about Xavi. He is in fact being played out of position. He is usually the link between our defense and offense, right now he is just being used as an offensive mid pretty much. He is not that type of player and never will be. A better player for that would have been Cesc.

The Senna argument is a non argument for me. Busquets is good enough to handle that position. Is he as good as Senna? No, but the rest of the midfield is good enough to play an even more possesion game to help make up the difference. The problem is that he is using Xabi alongside Busquets to have double duty. It makes our possession static in the center. Either drop Xavi or Xabi from the lineup or we are going to have the same problems that we have had in the first game.

The Brasil statement is nothing. Dunga chose his tactics and his personnel to play exactly like he wanted. Are they the best players from Brasil? Probably not but they fit into Dunga's system. Holland I can't comment much on but they seem to be pretty solid, maybe not spectacular but a solid team who can beat anybody. Spain's problem is that Del Bosque doesn't know or is not implementing a system for Spain to play. It's like he wants two styles into one and it's not working out for either style.

 

Against Portugal, Xavi shouldn't go too far forward. He needs to control central midfield like he usually does for Barca and dominate it. So far he hasn't stamped his authority in central midfield probably because he is played out of position. With Deco coming back for Portugal, Xavi needs to win the central midfield battle because once Deco starts distributing balls to the wingers, Ronaldo and Simao they would be very dangerous. We need to have high possession to stand a better chance of beating Portugal. I believe this game will be won in midfield and I hope Xavi and Iniesta will do the job for us.

 

This match feels for me a lot like the Italy match in the Euros. It will be the hardest for us to win. Not because of the talent of our opponent but because of their style of play. It really is a 50/50 match. But if we survive we'll have a better than average chance of beating teams like paraguay and even Argentina or Germany.

If your prone to nerves (like me) make sure you got alcohol nearby cause this one will be nerve racking for at least 90 minutes.

 

Yeah, Portugal will be as tough as an Italy is some respects. This team is unbeaten for a long time and they have a solid defense. To make matters worse for Spain, the Portugese have world class wingers and this is their weapon against our weak spot which is Capdevilla and Ramos. I'm feeling a bit nervous about this match but I'm also a bit confident that Torres will play better and Xavi will be more effective this time. We need to be careful of their counter attacks because that is their strength. The key is to score first and I hope we will.