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World Cup 2010 Teams – Spain (review 2)

The world ranked number one national team Spain have progressed a long way in relatively few years to dethrone Brazil as the world's number 1 and their qualification was further testament to this, ending up one of three European teams including England the Netherlands, to qualify with two games to spare. They are defensively strong and creatively attacking and in winning Euro 2008 they proved that they have what it takes to become the world's best despite never lifting the World Cup.

The Spanish team is perhaps the one team entering the World Cup that shows team work is absolutely critical to continued success. While they do have obviously talented and highly gifted players in their ranks, it was consistent team work that helped them become Europe's second highest scorers with 28 goals from 10 games and ensured that they only conceded 5 goals in this same period. Neutrals also enjoy the Spanish game because of the short, fast paced passing game that they most commonly employ in order to beat the teams put before them.

Qualifying Campaign

The 2010 qualifying campaign was a resounding success for Spain. They won every one of their 10 games racking up 28 goals in the process and letting in just five. They were the second highest scoring European side in qualification with only England scoring more with 34 goals and they qualified with 2 games to spare. Despite their success in Euro 2008, the 2010 qualifying campaign saw a number of new and fresh faces introduced to the national team showing their commitment to progress and advance not willing to sit back and rest on their success.

World Cup History

Despite being ranked world number 1, Spain have yet to lift the World Cup trophy, the most prestigious in world football. However, their success at Euro 2008 and their continued run of excellent results has seem them qualify for their 13th finals. Their best finish was at Brazil 1950 when they finished in fourth place and as well as their 2008 European success they are also able to boast being European winners in 1964. Since failing to qualify for Germany 1974 they have qualified for every one of the World Cup finals but this year looks to be their best hope of taking the trophy home.

The Coach

Vicente del Bosque faced the difficult task of taking over from Luis Aragones following Spain's success at Euro 2008. While the change in management could have gone either way, del Bosque kept the same core of players and continued to progress the team ensuring that they kept up their winning ways throughout the qualifiers. Vicente del Bosque also enjoyed incredible success while club manager with Real Madrid winning La Liga twice, the Champions League twice, and collecting the Spanish Super Cup, a European Super Cup, and the Toyota Intercontinental Cup all between the years 2000 and 2003.

The Players

The Spanish team is one that displays the merits of teamwork and singling out any individual player is difficult for that very reason. With that said, most of the team's top performances stem from the incredible midfield duo of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. Up front, the Spanish have two of the most prolific strikers in world football in Fernando Torres, nicknamed El Nino because of his diminutive stature, and David Villa. Iker Casillas is considered one of the world's best goalkeepers and marshals his team brilliantly from between the posts. Spain will almost certainly make use of the majority if not all of their squad during the tournament.

Group H

Switzerland, ranked 18th, and Honduras and Chile ranked 38th and 17th respectively make up the rest of Group H. Switzerland are a defensively capable side that could progress from the group stages. In stark contrast, Chile may be considered one of the most attractive South American teams in world football but they have a tendency to leak goals in every game so will almost certainly come unstuck against Spain's incredible firepower. Honduras have achieved the seemingly unachievable by qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and only managed it through superior goal difference gaining them a third place group finish and any result for them would be considered a surprise.

Group Matches And Analysis

Group H looks to be a foregone conclusion with Spain the most likely winners and Switzerland the most likely runners up. Spain should find progression through this group to be an easy ask and as prolific goal scorers in qualifying, fans can expect to enjoy some high scoring games along the way. However, upsets can happen as Spain's loss against the USA in the Confederations Cup semi final proves. Their first match is against Switzerland on the 16th June with their remaining two games against Honduras and Chile being played on the 21st and 25th respectively.

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