World Cup 2010, Spain: David Villa and Vicente De Bosque put their weight behind Fernando Torres
Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in the pre-quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup 2010 to book a date with Paraguay in the Final 8.
Spain’s man in form throughout the World Cup, David Villa, was once again the man to shine in the crucial encounter. Villa scored his 4th goal to become the joint top-scorer of the World Cup. His strike partner, Liverpool’s Fernando Torres, on the other hand, was a shadow of his former self and could not find his feet. Torres was suffering from a groin injury at the end of the English Premier League season, and missed the last 2 months of the season.
Torres has been heavily criticized in the World Cup so far, and has looked immensely short on match fitness, especially because his partner Villa has been in supreme touch.
Villa, however, came out in defence of his strike partner and said that people should not judge him on these performances, and instead should remember what he has done over the years, as according to him, class is permanent and form is just temporary.
Torres had a knee surgery just before the World Cup, the after-effects of which were clear in the group matches where he did not score a single goal. He was substituted by Del Bosque in the pre-quarterfinal match against Portugal.
Villa said that he does not agree at all with those who have been saying that Torres should not be part of the starting eleven. The striker with 4 goals said that the only valid criticism might be that he has not been able to score just yet; however, other than that, his work rate and assists in moves have been superb.
Villa, who will start the next season with Barcelona, scored the all important goal against Portugal in the Round of 16 match that enabled Spain to make it through to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
While referring to that goal, Villa said that he was never in doubt that they would be able to score against Portugal, as they had been attacking the Portuguese goal constantly.
The front man said that the key was to be patient; teams that decide to sit back do take longer to breach rather than the ones that attack, and that is exactly what happened in the last match.
The European champions have been growing from strength to strength as the World Cup has gone on, but the place of Torres is now seriously under threat, despite the open support by David Villa.
However, Villa insisted that what people outside the team do not realize is how well he has overcome his rather major injury.
Coach Vicente Del Bosque has so far been patient with the Liverpool man, and has given him a start in every game. However, he did admit that it was lack of match fitness that forced him to take Torres off and replace him with Fernando Llorente in the Portugal game.
Del Bosque said that it had more to do with the team strategy than his individual performance; he said that the team needed someone with height, and that is why the tall striker was sent on.
The coach said that Torres put in a committed performance, and there is no doubt that he gives it his all whenever he is on the pitch.
Del Bosque firmly believes that his team have finally got the same confidence that they had in the Euro Cup in 2008, and there is no reason why they should not be able to go all the way, and that Torres remains at the centre of his plans for the crucial games.
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