World Cup Betting
Spain are one of the perennial underachievers on football’s biggest stage. Despite boasting some of the biggest club sides and best players in the history of the sport, they haven’t progressed beyond the quarter final stage of a World Cup finals since they finished fourth way back in 1950.
However, all could change in 2010. Spain arrive in South Africa as European champions and with a 100% qualifying record and the pre-tournament favourites are fancied to finally break their World Cup hoodoo this summer. Here are four reasons why Spain are the 4/1 favourites to triumph in South Africa.
The Strikers
Statistics (based on goal importance and the tournament they were scored in) demonstrated that David Villa was the most prolific goalscorer in the world between 2005-2009. The Valencia forward is one of the world’s best strikers and he has a fantastic record of 36 goals in just 54 international appearances. Villa is Spain’s second highest goal scorer of all time, and won the Golden Boot at the European Championships in 2008 with four goals.
Alongside Villa is the Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. Torres has scored 23 international goals including the decisive goal in the Euro 2008 Final and has struck up a lethal partnership with Villa. He also has a superb goal scoring record for his club side with 50 goals in just 72 Liverpool appearances.
The two men are arguably the best strike force in international football. As Villa has said, “We’re a good partnership. We both chase down defenders, put pressure on and fight to create chances for each other. We work well together.”
The Form
Between 2006 and 2009, Spain broke the world record for the most international matches undefeated. They won 32 out of 35 matches in an extraordinary run which was finally ended with their 2-0 defeat to the USA in the 2009 Confederations Cup semi-final.
This run included another world record of fifteen consecutive wins and Spain won ten out of ten matches in World Cup qualifying, including tricky away wins in Turkey, Bosnia and Belgium.
Spain are, without doubt, the form team in international football and their rise to the top of the FIFA rankings is based on this unprecedented run of success.
The Draw
It would be fair to say that Spain were handed a kind draw in South Africa. They have been drawn alongside Chile, Switzerland and Honduras in Group H and will expect to top the group and progress comfortable. Indeed, topping the group could well be vital with the second place team in Group H likely to face Brazil in the first knockout round.
Whilst Spain’s second round opponents will be tricky - they are likely to play Portugal or the Ivory Coast - their route to the final after that looks reasonably straightforward. Italy are likely to await in the quarter-finals before a tie against probably Germany or Argentina. There should be nothing to scare the Spanish there.
The Midfield
When Barcelona won the 2009 Champions League Final, even though Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi’s goals may have taken the headlines, it was widely considered that the midfield duo of Andres Iniesta and Xavi were the key to the Catalans’ success.
The pair were also key to Spain’s success at the 2008 European Championships as their blend of playmaking, tackling and passing skills dovetail perfectly. If you then consider that Vicente del Bosque can play Iniesta and Xavi alongside the more defensively minded Marcos Senna, the more attacking minded Cesc Fabregas or alongside the superb passing of Xavi Alonso, Spain have an embarrassment of riches in the centre of their midfield.
With the Valencia forward David Silva providing ammunition from the wings and the promising 21year olds Sergio Busquets and Juan Mata also competing to make del Bosque’s 23 man World Cup squad, there are few teams that can boast the strength in depth that Spain can.
Verdict
Spain have arrived at a World Cup with great players in the past only to disappoint us on the big stage by failing to beat the likes of Northern Ireland, Belgium, Paraguay, South Korea and Nigeria in recent years. However, with two of international football’s most prolific strikers, impressive recent form, a kind draw and a midfield that is the envy of the world, 2010 could finally be Spain’s year.
