I think they have the best squad in the world with brazil, and one of the top 3 teams in the world strikers RAul Morientes Fernando Torres Reyes Tamudo Mista Tristan Midfield Vicente Luque Joaquin Valeron Angulo Albelda Baraja Yeste Xabi Alonso XAbi Rufete Luis garcia defense Marchena Puyol Helguera Salgado Cesar Pavon Raul Bravo Navarro Olenguer etc.. Why the fVck dont they ever pass form quarter finals??, they did terrible in the Euro Cup, I hope they do !well!! in the world cup!! Why?? Why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent attacking players. Defense might be the weak point. Marchena is a solid pro but I'm not sold on Helgerua and Raul Bravo. Also, Raul's form for Spain has been poor recentely. Perhaps it's time to go with the young kids, Reyes and Torres up front.
I'll tell you why. It's called "choking". Holland suffers from the same disease. My Portugal is well on their way to becoming big time chokers too after the Euro final.
Choking my ass. Its called having no truly outstanding forward and a defense so bad you have to list Raul Bravo as a positive. As usual, Spain have a great midfield, play some pretty football, but aren't nearly clinical enough, and aren't solid enough in defense.
Raul has been among the best strikers in the world over the past 5 years. A slight dip in form recently, but nothing to be worried about.
He was not appalling at the Euros. Sure he's poor in the air, that's never been his strong point. But if Spain had included a couple of central midfielders who could actually link with him in the team, perhaps they wouldn't have done so badly. Instead they had 2 wide men, and 2 blockhead defensive midfielders, and left Raul to create chances from the middle for Morientes, and score as well.
Your listing Pavon as a world class defender? You don't watch Real Madrid much do you? And where is Del Horno? nicephoras has a point - for all the quality, Spain has trouble scoring.
Good point - for all their possession and domination against England last week they created comparatively very few genuine scoring chances
Baraja is hardly a clod, and Xabi Alonso started the third game (the one that they lost). Raul had chances with his feet, too. Look, I like Raul as a player. But the truth is that he's been nowhere near his level over the past two years. He can still link fairly well, but couldn't hit the ocean from a boat. And again - any defense that starts Raul Bravo is due for a serious whomping. What a surprise that he was eaten alive by Portugal.
Admittedly Raul has had a shocking year. He only scored about 3 league goals between New Year and Euro 2004 and not many more since. Pity - bit young for a burn-out.