The Netherlands are 21/10 favourites for the World Cup after knocking Brazil out of the competition.
The South Americans took the lead through Robinho in the first half but a Felipe Melo own goal and a Wesley Sneijder header turned the tables in the second half as the Dutch ran out 2-1 winners.
Things went from bad to worse for Melo, who was deservedly sent off for stamping on Arjen Robben with 17 minutes to go.
Spain are the 9/4 second favourites to lift the World Cup but they face a tricky test against Paraguay on Saturday evening (Paraguay 7/1, draw 11/4, Spain 1/2).
Paraguay scraped into the last-eight by beating Japan on penalties in the last round after a lifeless 0-0 draw. Their success has been built on a solid defence, which has only conceded one goal in the competition so far.
Paraguay have only scored three goals in the World Cup but coach Gerardo Martino insists that his side will pose a significant threat to Spain.
“In three of the four World Cup matches we had to take the game to our opponents and that’s difficult for a team like ours,” said Martino.
“Our future rivals will let us play. Spain will give us more space.”
However, goalkeeper Justo Villar has warned the Spanish that his side will not return the favour and let their star names play.
“Our football has always been about a lot of hard work and tactics,” said Villar.
“It’s going to be a good match where you will see two types of football.
“One side trying to attack skilfully while we try to stop them and then try to take advantage of our chances.”
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is set to keep faith with misfiring striker Fernando Torres, who has failed to score in Spain’s four games in the World Cup to date.
Del Bosque has expressed his “full confidence” in the Liverpool striker despite Torres clearly struggling for form. In mitigating circumstances, he went into the tournament on the back of knee surgery in April and is clearly struggling for fitness.
In the last-16 clash against Portugal, del Bosque replaced Torres with Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente with the score at 0-0. Llorente twice went close to breaking the deadlock and was involved in David Villa’s winning goal.
This earned him plaudits in the Spanish media and the pressure is now on Torres to deliver with the Bilbao man breathing down his neck. However, he will receive confidence from the backing of his coach and will be hoping to reward this faith with a goal against Paraguay (Torres 4/1 to score first goal).
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