Starting 11 announced

I dont think this formation is going to give us enough offense. We should run a 4-4-2 with xabi alonso and xavi in the middle, reyes and joquin on the wings, with villa and raul up front.

Posted from  United States

Luis seems determined to stick with this 4-3-3 formation for some reason. To me, when you have so many good midfielders, you would want to put as many of them on the field as possible, which is why I would go with a 4-1-3-2 or 4-5-1.

Posted from  United States

Couldn’t agree more…Spain has arguably the deepest midfield in the tournament, yet Luis insists on playing with three standard distributors in midfield and a woefully out-of-sorts Villa up front.

It will be a shame if the likes of Reyes and Cesc look on from the bench as Spain crash out early.

Posted from  United States

Hmm… I agree. Spain’s team looks good on paper precisely because of its midfield. Xabi Alonso should have the lead, and the others should fit around him. And while David Villa may have had a great campaign in La Liga this year, he is a bit new in terms of playing for the national side, and he may find the World Cup a bit more challenging.

Oh well… nothing we can do but hope and pray that Aragones knows what he’s doing!

Posted from  Philippines

I think Spain will let us down as usual. Even though they have a fantastic team as for the individual stars, they don’t play as a team. I hope the reach the semi-finals, but this is really improbable.

Posted from  Spain

As I’ve said before, Spain is good enough to reach the quarterfinals, and they’re about due some luck. They should convincingly beat the Ukraine and neither Tunisia nor Saudi Arabia will give them serious problems. If they reach the semi’s anything is possible.

Posted from  United States

This could be a very intresting tournment for Spain, for the last couple of tournaments they’ve been known as under-achievers.

But with new players and a blend of old established heads, they’ve now got a fantastic team and a really really good midfield, one of the best in the tournament, better than italy and france for certain.

In regards of tommorow’s match i think Spain should just edge out Ukraine 2 or 3 goals to 1.

Watch out for Alonso and Xavi controlling the midfield, both of them expectional players.

I think that the inclusion of Luis Garcia is a brave and bold one, he’s had a very good 2 seasons at liverpool and offers Spain something different, a very unpredictable player.

Its nice to see both Villa and Torres also selected, on paper thats a tremendous partnership and i am a big fan of both players. Villa is the next Raul, whom is sadly fading away due to recent injuries but he will still be important at this world cup.

Bit of a suprise in seeing Pernia selected but he played well in the warm-up and scored, but i’d have selected Salgado.

La buena suerte A España!

If u fancy a chat about the world cup don’t hestiate:-

dafreakysportsguru@hotmail.com

Posted from  United States

Hmm… you should be more optimistic, Worldcup fan! While I know that Spain has disappointed us for so long its almost a rule that they will in every World Cup, I have a feeling that this time around they may actually break that expectation!

Even just a 1-0 is really gonna make my day tomorrow!

Posted from  Philippines

Hope springs eternal. This is a young, exciting squad with no fear. While I think that the Spanish Primera is the best league in the world, I also feel that Spain will be aided by some of the squad’s foreign experience. Xabi, Luis Garcia, Cesc, and Reyes are young guns who haven’t been awed by completely foreign surroundings, a relatively new trend for A-list Spanish stars.

I’m optimistic, and I’m hoping for a spectacular showing, but 1-0 will do just fine!

Posted from  United States

I have reserved faith in that starting lineup – I still don’t trust Raul, Torres has been on fire, and Villa is still my favorite Spanish striker despite mediocre friendlies. My biggest complaint is that Reyes deserves the spot over Garcia.

Posted from  United States

Ukraine 2-0 Spain

Posted from  United States

My prediction – Torres to score 2 and Villa 1 score will be 3-0 or 3-1 Spain to Win…

Posted from  Australia

This is probably the best formation we can have, so no excuses. Upside: deep in the bench: good to have fresh iniesta, raul or cesc as substitutes. Downside: past experiences. Ukraine is just not sheva.

Posted from  Luxembourg

This match is about which team want to win more…,in fact the Spanish do not even have to win to progress to the next round from their abnoxiously easy group H.After yesterday’s LOUSY,PATHETIC performance by group G(except Koreans),Spain don’t even have to worry about finishing top of their group!!Facts aside,for me,Spain will always play the beautiful game..,BEAUTIFULLY!!!

Posted from  Malaysia