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Thursday, November 10, 2011

England vs Spain preview


England vs Spain preview.

International football friendly’s are rarely high profile affairs but this Saturday’s match between England and Spain at Wembley is certainly one to look forward to, although most of the English press has focussed on ‘poppy-gate’. It should be a fantastic match.

England Squad: Hart (Manchester City), Carson (Bursaspor), Stockdale (Ipswich Town); G Johnson (Liverpool), Jones (Man Utd), Cahill (Bolton Wanderers), Terry, Cole (both Chelsea), Baines, Jagielka* (both Everton), Lescott (Man City), Walker (Tottenham); Lampard (Chelsea), Rodwell (Everton), Downing (Liverpool), Barry (Man City), A Johnson (Man City), Milner (Man City), Parker (Tottenham), Walcott (Arsenal); Bent (Aston Villa), Sturridge (Chelsea), Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Zamora (Fulham), Welbeck (Man Utd).

*John Terry (Chelsea) has been brought into replace the injured Jagielka

Spain Squad: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), José Reina (Liverpool), Víctor Valdés(Barcelona); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Valencia), Raúl Albiol (Real Madrid), Nacho Monreal (Málaga); Xavi (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets(Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Málaga), Javi Martínez (Athletic Bilbao), Cesc Fábregas (Barcelona), Andrés Iniesta  (Barcelona); David Villa(Barcelona), David Silva (Manchester City), Fernando Torres(Chelsea), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Juan Mata (Chelsea),Jesús Navas (Sevilla).


A lot has been made about the English squad selection for the forthcoming friendly’s the biggest omission in my opinion is no Micah Richards, sure City haven’t been that strong at the back but the young man has been playing consistently well for a while now and City are top of the league!! I would have put him ahead of Glenn Johnson. Glad to see Jack Rodwell and Sturridge get nods, we (Everton) have been terrible this season but Rodwell has looked good and has impressed ever since his red card in the Merseyside derby, although Jack has admitted that he thought the phone call he received was a wind-up. Rodwell has stepped into the magnificently well groomed and stylish boots left by Mikel Arteta. Sturridge too has been in fine form for a while now, there was a lot of talk in the summer about a possible move away from Stanford Bridge, local pub chat even mentioned him as a swop for Raul Miereles. AVB rightfully said Sturridge was part of his plans and kept on to the talented youngster. It’s good to see players coming through the international ranks rather than being pushed straight into to the full national team, the Italian side of 2006 all made their name at youth level first. 

                                              The future looks bright for Jack Rodwell.

If England are going to cause Spain any trouble then I would suggest that pace is the only thing la Seleccion may be vulnerable too. I would play both Walcott and Downing either side of Darren Bent. Johnson and Walcott are both electric and have been in good form this season (when Mancini lets Johnson play) Johnson is also a tricky player , Bent is a natural goal scorer. I would select Kyle Walker over Phil Jones at right-back, Jones has looked good at times but hasn’t performed in the Champions League, putting him up against the European and World champions would expose any weaknesses he has. Kyle Walker excites me, yes he could get blown out of the water but if England are going to win this game they need to take risks. My midfield would be Parker, Lampard and Milner, Barry is just too slow.

England 4-3-3
Hart – Cole, Lescott, Cahill, Walker – Parker, Lampard, Milner – Johnson, Bent, Walcott.

Although I was shocked to see to Richards not in the England squad I was gob smacked to see the Spanish have left out Soldado, he’s currently averaging 0.53 goals a game which is more than Villa, Llorente and Torres. I like Llorente a lot, he and Soldado are classic no9’s.  They are big and strong and both gave Puyol and Pique difficult evenings, Soldado should have won it for Valencia against Barca at the Mestalla but missed a sitter. On current form Soldado should take the place of Fernando Torres, but you can see why Del Bosque wanted a striker in who plays in England.

                                               Soldado misses out again

The reality is that Spain won’t miss Soldado no matter what the score is on Saturday, they simply have too many option. In Spain’s last match against Scotland David Silva was given the no.9 shirt and played a ‘false no.9’ role, he scored 2 and set up another. Soldado missed out on both the Euro and World cup victories in 2008 and 2010. He has made two international appearances and is seen as a bit of late bloomer after being considered surplus requirements at Real Madrid. His goal scoring record at all levels show he is fantastic talent and he is still only 26, perhaps the view is that he can’t perform on the big stage. However, he is captaining in form Valencia and is capable of some inspirational moments.

                                         Soldado in a recent Champions league game.

Picking a starting eleven for Spain is a sizeable task. Del Bosque might change things up a bit, Xavi and Villa played 90mins for Barca last night against L’Hospitalet so the pair of them might not start. Sergio Ramos has been playing CB for Real recently and has put in a string of fine performances, he and Pique would provide a solid central pairing, also they are both insanely cool. 

Spain 4-3-3
Iker – Jordi Alba, Pique, Ramos, Arbeloa – Busquets, Santi Cazorla, Cesc – Iniesta, Llortente, Silva.

Whatever team Spain put out it will be stronger than one England can muster at the moment, here is Spanish starting XI put together by talksport magazine, none of these players even made the squad!

Would this side beat the current English team?

Predication, although I have made various bets with my students that England will in this game its difficult to see where a victory will come from. I’m hoping for an open 2-2 draw. In reality 0-2 to Spain.

Let’s finish with a recap of the weekends results. Levente lost their second game of the season in an entertaining game with Valencia 0-2. Tino Costa scored a long range freekick that Levente keeper Gustavo Adolfo Munua won’t want to see again. Real Madrid cruised to a 7-1 victory over Osasuana at a packed Benerbau for a midday kick off on Sunday. Barcelona continued their unimpressive away form at a rain sodden San Mames, Messi was there to save the day with a last minute equaliser to make it 2-2. The result may satisfy some Brits in the pubs up and down England who often quip “Barca may be able to do it in Champs League finals etc. but they wouldn’t turn up on a wet evening away at Stoke”. Obviously Barcelona would beat Stoke, however, their away form is far from desirable. Villareal drew away 0-0 at Espanyol, The Yellow Submarines have looked flat since losing their talisman Santi Cazola to Malaga who also drew 0-0 away from home at Betis. The shock of the weekend was at Getafe who leapt from the foot of the table to beat Athletico Madrid in an enthralling 3-2 home victory. 

Sunday November 6

Saturday November 5










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