Spain-Sweden

No time for a detailed preview, as I’m off to Spain in a few hours.
In fact, I’ll probably miss the 2nd half of the Spain-Sweden game because of this trip. Maybe I should cancel?

Ok, maybe not. But I’m more than a little aggravated that I’ll miss this game. And should Spain advance as group winners, I’ll miss the quarterfinal match-up en route to New York. Anyways …

Coach Luis Aragones has indicated he’ll use the same starting eleven he did against Russia. That’s a good idea. The side against Russia played brilliant football (besides the creaky defense) and hopefully can repeat that magic against the Swedes.

The Swedes are no pushover. Anyone see that Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal against the Greeks? Can you say Goal of the Tournament?

“(Sweden) are a team that play the long ball and counter well, have good options ahead of midfield, and have plenty of players who can cause us harm. We will suffer a lot,” said Aragones.

“For Sweden, and all our rivals, I have great respect. In competitions such as these one bad day can hurt you a lot. We’re going to suffer because they’re a powerful opponent. They showed that by beating us 2-0 in Stockholm.”

Still, Spain are favorites to progress to the next round, where they’ll probably meet one of the powerhouses from Group C.

“Care must be taken ahead of Romania,” warned the boss, looking ahead to one possibly opponent.

The usually gruff Aragones made journalists chuckle Friday when showed a picture of defender Sergio Ramos acting the fool at a disco on Wednesday.

“It was his free day. On his free day everyone can do what they like,” Aragones said. “You’re lucky you didn’t get a picture of me there.”

Aragones confessed he might not be photographed at the same disco as the 22-year-old Real Madrid right back since his music preference would be flamenco. But that wasn’t the point.

Just like their coach, the Spanish team is loose and in good spirits ahead of the Sweden match, which could secure a quarterfinal berth for the victor. Spain, with the mountain of expectations that accompanies it with every major championship, has vowed to stay focused.

Saturday also marks Aragones’ 50th game at the helm of La Furia Roja, quite the landmark.

He holds an impressive 35-11-4 record — including a current seven-game winning streak. Aragones is only two victories shy of matching Javier Clemente as the most successful Spanish coach ever.

“It doesn’t have any meaning,” Aragones said about match No. 50. “It would be good (to reflect) on my results and the fact that I have managed to compose an important group (of players). Let’s just see how far they get, maybe to the (final).”

Let’s hope so. Today’s match will go a long way towards that goal.

To follow the match live, please go to the World Cup blog’s exclusive minute-by-minute report of the proceedings in AustriaSwitzerland.

I hope to make the occasional blog post on my week away. We’ll see what I can do!

Viva España!!!

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Hi guys, Ryan here.

I just figuered to tack on to Cesar’s entry since we don’t need 4 posts about one game going on here.

Anyways, if you didn’t see the last game with Russia, the lineup will be.

—————–Casillas ————–
—Sergio Ramos,– Puyol,– Marchena, –Capdevila —
—— Senna—Xavi—Iniesta—Silva —
————–Torres—-Villa———–

Talking with Elisa, one of the other authors of the blog, we are both nervous about this game. Sure, everyone and their mother is picking Spain to win because of the thrashing we gave Russia in the opening game, but it would be typical Spain if we were to lose to Romania today.

You always have to fear these types of games. Most teams in any sport are flawed by playing to the level of their competition. Sevilla is notorious for this, consistently passing through the early rounds of the Copa del Rey on 6-5 aggregate scores against teams that are in the lowest regional league possible.

If Spain have another great showing today, talk will be of them moving on to the finals without problems, and with much rejoicing.

But, if Spain falter today, not even with a loss, but with a 2-1 or 1-0 scoreline, look for some grumbles and moans from the Spanish press, and a more ‘Here we go again.’ attitude. Can you blame them? The Spaniards consistently have one of the best lineups on paper, with just some absolute studs on the team (Villa, Torres, Puyol, Casillas, just to name a few) but just cannot put the finishing touches on a tournament.

Here’s to hoping that this tournament is different from the others.

Unfortunately, I join in Cesar’s pain as my stupid ass forgot to move my shift at work today, assuming that I normally work at 3:30 when in fact I work at 11:30. Thank god for DVR. So, I will be avoiding anything that can possibly give me a score line until I get out of work and can watch the game myself.

Look for my thoughts here tonight after the match.