WCQ PREVIEW: SPAIN – ARMENIA
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Sept 10 2008
Switzerland
What: World Cup 2010 Qualifier, Group 5
Who: Spain vs Armenia
When: Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 22:00 CET
Where: Carlos Belmonte, Albacete
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 Aragones 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 Aragones 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 Fabregas 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 Guiza as he changes to to two up front, which
should prove to be much more effective than Villa on his own.
Probable Starting XI: Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Albiol,
Capdevila; Iniesta, Senna o Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Cazorla; Guiza, Villa.
Armenia
Danish coach Jan Poulsen is set to name a very defensive line up that
will feature a 5-4-1 formation. The main absentee is Arzumanyan and
so Arakeyan is set to step into replace him at the back.
Probable Starting XI: Berezovsky; Hovsepyan, Arakeyan, Tateosyan,
Arakelyan, Lazarian; Pachajyan, Voskanyan, Karamyan, Mkhitaryan;
Manucharyan.
PREDICTION
Bosnia held Spain at bay by playing on the break quite successfully,
but Armenia are not as good and should allow their hosts more
chances. Del Bosque will have learnt lessons from the game at the
weekend and is set to try and put things right.
Spain 3 – 0 Armenia
Lucas Brown, Goal.comThe 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 Aragones 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 thing smuch though and there were periods when
the home side looked distinctly like they had done under Aragones 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 reemply the exact same squad that won the European Championships.
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 Fabregas 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 Guiza as he changes to to two up front, which
should prove to be much more effective than Villa on his own.
Probable Starting XI: Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Albiol,
Capdevila; Iniesta, Senna o Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Cazorla; Guiza, Villa.
Armenia
Danish coach Jan Poulsen is set to name a very defensive line up that
will feature a 5-4-1 formation. The main absentee is Arzumanyan and
so Arakeyan is set to step into replace him at the back.
Probable Starting XI: Berezovsky; Hovsepyan, Arakeyan, Tateosyan,
Arakelyan, Lazarian; Pachajyan, Voskanyan, Karamyan, Mkhitaryan;
Manucharyan.
PREDICTION
Bosnia held Spain at bay by playing on the break quite successfully,
but Armenia are not as good and should allow their hosts more
chances. Del Bosque will have learnt lessons from the game at the
weekend and is set to try and put things right.
Spain 3 – 0 Armenia