WCQ Preview: Europe - Group 5
Spain are now expected to ease through to the World Cup Finals after winning their first piece of silverware for 44 years in the summer, but Vicente del Bosque’s men will face a tough time in Group Five of the qualifiers…
Spain have either invoked fervent passion or a passing interest at the start of qualification campaigns in the past with coverage and expectation increasing as a tournament draws closer and closer, but this time around all eyes will be on the team from the very start.
Success at the European Championships was thoroughly deserved as Luis Aragonés’ side produced displays of wonderful flowing football and quick passing that unlocked their opponents while proving that forward-thinking tactics can work having seen the Greeks triumph with an almost exact opposite approach four years earlier.
Aragonés may have moved on to return to club football, with Fenerbahçe in Turkey, but the demands are now as high as they have been for the national team that unites and divides opinion throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
The Spanish have always had an array of players with exceptional technique and the ability to see many, especially outsid of Spain, promote them as potential champions of every tournament that they enter, but years of underachievement allied with bad luck had seen the fans and media approach with a sense of irony and depressing readiness to accept that they were not quite good enough yet again.
Euro 2008 has changed all that and the bright young things available to Vicente del Bosque as he sets out on the road to South Africa in two years time are now quietly expected to continue where they left off in Austria and Switzerland. The coach, sensibly, is talking about continuity rather than major changes and is slowly tweaking the squad rather than rebuilding it.
Great Expectations
Mentality has also been a big problem for the Spanish in the past, but the current crop of stars will have had their self belief fortified and those on the fringes that will come in will also know that they will have to be ready to not concede anything when stepping up to the national team, unlike so many players in the past.
Unfortunately for Del Bosque the qualifying campaign can only see him make headlines for one reason and that is if he fails to guide the SPanish to the World Cup Finals. If they do top the group, as both fans and bookmakers expect, then he will have only done ht ejob that he was asked too and that really it was quite an easy task.
Nobody within the camp will believe that as they look ahead to trips to Turkey, Bosnia and Belgium in Group Five, because while the silverware is still glistening in the Football Federation’s trophy cabinet it is more than fair to say that one swallow does not make a summer. Spain are perfectly capable of going to a place where they are expect to perform and either drawing or losing.
Two years nobody would have thought that the team would have struggled to kick off their campaign after promising so much in the World Cup Finals. After beating Iceland, the Spanish lost to Sweden and Northern Ireland and had to play catch-up for the rest of the qualifying phase just to make it to Euro 2008.
In their opening game this time around Spain will be confident because the match will be a celebration of their success over the summer, with it being their first game on home soil since winning the tournament. Murcia will be packed with fans wanting to see the heroes that brought such joy to them and that could have a distinct affect on the outcome.
Goodwill Gesture
Turkey will consider themselves to be very unlucky at the European Championships after reaching the semi finals before losing out to Germany in a thriller that saw them have to field a weakened team due to incurring so many injuries en route. That performance though will have bolstered the squad and they are without doubt Spain’s main rivals.
The Turks’ meeting with Armenia is shrouded in politics, bit there was some upbeat news when it was revealed that there were steps in place to try and heal the bitterness between the two as talks will take place ahead of the game in what is being described as football diplomacy.
Both countries’ presidents will watch the game and around 5,000 Turkish fans are expected in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to see the game after the authorities waived normal visa controls in a gesture of goodwill. On the pitch the visitors will be hoping to secure three points to kickstart their campaign before they prepare to meet Bosnia-Herzegovina in midweek.
Belgium failed to qualify for the European Championships and will be hoping that they can bounce back and make a real push to reach South Africa in two years and a commanding opening performance will be required. A home game against Estonia may appear easy enough, but the Red Devils will know that they should not take the unfancied visitors for granted.
Ref From Lucas Brown - Goal.com
