Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile and Australia.
SPAIN
The
Defending Champions, I suppose this is enough to describe the strength of the
team. The Spanish team holds the record of winning 2 Euros (2008, 2012) and the
World Cup (2010) in 4 years. It is almost an impossible feat to achieve. Spain
has got a team to win the World Cup once again and become one of the very few
teams to win a World Cup 2 times consecutively. Only Brazil and Italy can
proudly claim that success. This Spanish team is considered as one of the best
national sides ever.
It
would be tough for Spain to top the group as they have 2010 World Cup finalists
Netherlands in the same group; The Dutch team would be eyeing on a revenge. The
group draw was tough for all the teams in this group. Spain will have to be in
their very best form to top the group. Unless Spain has an unexpected
disappointing form, we should expect Spain to qualify in the next stage easily.
Recent friendly matches suggest Del Bosque’s side is struggling to rediscover their rhythm ahead of
next month’s tournament. A narrow 2-1 win over Equatorial Guinea was followed
by defeat to South Africa before the Spaniards edged past Italy 1-0 in Diego
Costa’s first appearance up front. Last year’s 3-0 Confederations Cup Final
defeat at the hands of Brazil perhaps hinted that some of Del Bosque’s ageing
squad could struggle in the conditions but the manager is likely to stay true
to his tried and trusted regulars.
Spain should not have problems in the back. Iker Casillas has
already been acclaimed as one of the best goalkeepers of all time. With Alvaro Arbeloa retiring from national
football, Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta is most likely to take over the
right-back position. Sergio Ramos had a great season with Real Madrid, proving
to be a great wall and scored some important goals in the most crucial moments
with his incredible aerial abilities. Though Gerard Pique and Jordi Alaba did
not have one of their best seasons with Barcelona, there is no reason why we
should doubt the abilities of these world class players.
In the centre, Sergio Busquets offers little in the way of going
forward and his appeal is limited to those games which reward defensive
contributions. Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Xabi Alonso will
surely continue as mainstays in Del Bosque’s XI. Spain’s forward is not that
strong on paper. Diego Costa has been a game-changing player for Atletico
Madrid, he didn’t make many appearances for Spain though. Cesc Fabregas, Juan
Mata and David Silva’s skills would be a good entertainment for football fans.
Playing all the star players in one team would result in a tough
competition amongst the players to be chosen in the starting XI.
Spain would have huge expectations from their fans and might as
well live up to it. Spain can be expected to show us some magical passing
football like they always does. They have all that is required for a team to
emerge as the champions of the World.
Dwijaraj Paul Chowdhury follow him on twitter.
its a team (Spain) analysis more than a group B analysis
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the teams from group b will be uploaded soon
ReplyDeleteThis year FIFA is going to be super exciting for sure.
ReplyDelete