SPAIN V SWITZERLAND PREVIEW FIFA 2010
The second match from Group H for the World Cup 2010 will be between Spain and Switzerland today 16 June 2010. The Spaniards will be l*****g their lips in anticipation at the prospect of unleashing their attacking genius over their opponents.
Spain’s attacking line is led by two of the most deadly marksmen in the world of football, one is nick named El Guaje and the other is El Nino, both meaning the kid but there is nothing green about Fernando Torres and David Villa at the international stage.
The side that is the neutral’s favourite to win the world cup will be bitterly disappointed that are going into the world cup ranked second and are only second favourites to win the coveted trophy behind Brazil. Spain have won 45 out of their last 48 matches and are the reigning European Champions. They are the only team in the world to have won the most number of matches in the world cup competition without actually lifting the golden trophy and in many people’s opinion they may never get a better shot at glory than this.
Spain’s opponents tonight, Switzerland are led by the legendary figure of Ottmar Hitzfield and they will be supremely confident that their manager’s tactical nous can at least guide them to the next round of the World’s premier football competition. At the last edition of the World cup the Swiss progressed to the second round and remarkably went out of the tournament without conceding a single goal in the tournament, however it will be nothing short of a miracle if they somehow come out of tonight’s tie with a 0 in the goals conceded column.
Tonight’s match in Durban will pit together two of the only five managers’ in the world that have won two the Champions league twice. Ottmar and Del Bosque both have managed the coveted feat twice.
The two teams have faced each other 18 times at the international level and Spain have managed to beat their opponents in 15 of those occasions while the reaming three have ended in a stalemate.
The Swiss have never beaten the Spaniards ever and they are not likely to go one better on that record tonight in South Africa, as they have never won their opening match at the world cup since the 1954 world cup when they beat Italy in their opening encounter.
Switzerland are the only team in the history of the world cup to be knocked out of the world cup without even conceding a single goal in the competition and prior to those 4 clean sheets, they had failed to keep one in their previous 22 encounters prior to that.
On the other hand their opponents tonight have won 49 matches at the world cup without winning the world cup and Carlos Marchena, their midfielder maestro recently became the only player in the history of the game to have played 50 matches without ever ending on the losing side. This record was previously held by Brazil’s Garrincha, who played in 49 successive matches without a loss.
Spain’s only defeat in their last 29 matches was the 2-0 loss in the confederations cup to the Unites States and tonight their boss is expected to slightly tweak their side, as he will opt for a five man midfield with El Guaje playing as the lone striker. El Nino will only make an appearance from the bench as he is being eased back after a knee knack.
Andreas Iniesta is also likely to start tonight after shaking off his injury while Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas is likely to warm the bench tonight.
Switzerland and Spain will be the last World Cup teams to enter the tournament when they play each other Wednesday; as such the Switzerland team is expected to play highly on its defence. On paper Spain are better than Switzerland but anything can happen in a one-off game.
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