WCQ Preview: Spain - Armenia

The feel good factor surrounding the Spain team was saved on Saturday evening by a stunning goal from David Villa and victory over Armenia will see talk about not only qualifying for the World Cup but also winning it will grow.

Vicente del Bosque took over in the summer from Luis Aragonés and can only better his predecessor by winning the tournament in South Africa in two years time although even the most staunch Spanish fans will know that will be a huge task.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were expected to travel to Murcia and defend in numbers, but they came out and took Spain on at times and that meant that there was slightly more space at the other end.

That did not change things much though and there were periods when the home side looked distinctly like they had done under Aragonés in the qualifiers for Euro 2008 when a lack of movement or imagination meant that goals were always at a premium.

Without Fernando Torres taking defenders away or making his trademark forward runs into the area, David Villa looked decidedly isolated, especially in the first half when Spain broke through very rarely.

Diego Capel was named in the starting line-up as the new coach attempted to show that he was willing to choose his own players and not just re-employ the exact same squad that won the European Championships.

More Of The Same

While the Sevilla wideman will certainly be a regular in years to come, his lack of international experience shone through and highlighted Spain's inability to think of any other tactic than to look to the flanks to send over crosses.

Sergio Ramos was not at his best on the right, meaning that Capel had the onus placed on him and his headless runs went against la Furia Roja's system of pass and move as he looked to take one defenders too often.

Every team that comes up against another side that is determined not to let them score can open themselves up to criticism because the talent on the attacking side means that they are supposed to overcome the defence.

But that cannot always happen and against Bosnia-Herzegovina it was only thanks to one moment of vision from Cesc Fàbregas that ensured that Spain were able to prove that negative tactics should not be encouraged.

Against Armenia, the Spanish can expect to face an even more defensive outfit but one that may not be as accomplished at keeping out such an array of attacking talent.

Del Bosque has to make changes and give a more composed player a run out on the left and leave Capel to gain the experience he needs by coming off the bench to open teams up when they are flagging and not from the start.

RECENT FORM

Spain

06/09/08 1-0 WCQ Bosnia-Herzegovina
20/08/08 3-0 Fr Denmark
29/06/08 1-0 EC Germany
26/06/08 3-0 EC Russia
22/06/08 0-0 EC Italy
18/06/08 2-1 EC Greece

Armenia

06/09/08 0-2 WCQ Turkey
26/03/08 1-0 Fr Kazakhstan
30/01/08 0-2 Fr Iceland
04/02/08 2-1 Fr Belarus
02/02/08 1-0 Fr Malta
21/11/08 0-1 ECQ Kazakhstan

TEAM NEWS

Spain

According to all the reports, Del Bosque is set to name Xabi Alonso, Santi Cazorla and Dani Güiza as he changes to to two up front, which should prove to be much more effective than Villa on his own.


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