Tag Archives: Spain

Rojita to reign in Spain again

Posted on by
Reply

Bet on SpainFollowing Spain’s shock defeat to England on Saturday, the nation’s under-21s get their chance to impress on Monday when they face their Swiss counterparts in Cordoba (Spain 1/4 for the win).

Much like the senior side, ‘La Rojita’ have been pretty much all conquering in the last few years and were impressive winners of the European Under-21 Championships in Denmark last summer.

Their form has continued and they currently sit top of their qualifying group for Euro 2013 in Israel, having recorded an impressive 6-0 victory over Estonia on Thursday.

Head coach Luis Milla has had to bring in a number of new faces since the triumph in the summer, with the likes of Juan Mata and Javi Martinez now considered permanent members of the senior side. This hasn’t halted their progress though.

Like the full side, the under-21 team is built around a core of players from Barcelona and at the heartbeat of this is creative midfielder Thiago Alcantara. Having starred in the aforementioned success in Denmark, Thiago has been superb this season and is now a regular in the Barca line-up, with coach Pep Guardiola often tinkering with his formation just to fit the mercurial youngster in. He will undoubtedly be pivotal in Andalucía and his performance could be the difference between victory and a draw for the Spanish (19/5 for the draw).

Another Spaniard to look out for is Athletic Bilbao forward Iker Muniain who for a long time has been tipped to become one of Europe’s top players. Having resisted the advances of a number of the continent’s big clubs, he finally appears to be fulfilling his potential. Now a regular at club and international level, Muniain’s pace and trickery can unlock any defence so expect him to get on the scoresheet at some point on Monday night.

Despite all this, Switzerland (15/2 to win) themselves are not a side to be discounted and will be looking to cause an upset at the El Arcangel. Much like Spain, Switzerland are currently experiencing somewhat of a ‘Golden Generation’ but have elected to put them straight into the senior side rather than blooding them in the juniors.

They are currently in good form after beating Georgia 5-0 on Thursday. Look out for striker Steven Zuber who bagged a hat-trick in that win. Zuber is a tricky individual and could cause the Spanish rearguard some major problems. With the confidence he gained from the Georgia demolition, he will fancy his chances of making an impact.

However, despite Switzerland’s fine form, Spain on paper look far stronger. Any team with the likes of Thiago and Muniain will fancy their chances against anyone so expect a comfortable victory for the European champions (Spain 10/1 for a 4-0 win).

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Spain stars in Mestalla shoot-out

Posted on by
Reply

Roberto Soldado and David Villa will bid for top billing when unbeaten leaders Valencia entertain champions Barcelona in the pick of five La Liga matches on Wednesday.

Former Getafe striker Soldado has pushed his claim to be the principal striker for Los Che with five goals in three game league games so far this season – including a hat-trick in a 4-3 win against Racing Santander on the opening weekend of the Spanish season – and will be desperate to show former Mestalla favourite Villa he is not missed.

Villa – who scored 107 league goals in five seasons for Valencia, before leaving for Camp Nou at the start of last season – has had to play second fiddle to free-scoring Argentinian maestro Lionel Messi but finally opened his campaign with a brace in the 8-0 rout of Osasuna at the weekend.

The World Cup winner missed the corresponding fixture at Mestalla last season (which Barca won 1-0), but will be anxious to put one over his former employers.

Soldado, given his start to the season, is a wholly attractive 9/4 to score anytime against Barca. He is also a speculative 8/1 to score first, which he has done is two of Valencia’s three La Liga games so far.

Villa cannot be ignored at 5/4 to score anytime with the incentive of going back to the Mestalla, while Barca can be backed at 1/3 in the To Score First Goal market, which is priced accordingly given that this bet would have landed in all of their three La Liga games so far.

Gerard Pique, who suffered a calf injury during training for the Spanish Super Cup on August 23, took part in training on Monday but Pep Guardiola has given no indication whether he will replace makeshift central defender Javier Mascherano.

Elsewhere in La Liga on Wednesday, Real Madrid should get back on track against winless Racing Santander at Campos de Sport de El Sardinero (Racing Santander 11/1, draw 5/1, Real Madrid 2/9 – Match Prices).

Atletico Madrid will be hoping to make it three clean sheets on the bounce in all competitions, when they play host to basement club Sporting Gijon (Atletico Madrid 2/5, draw 10/3, Sporting Gijon 13/2 – Match Prices).

And this summer’s big-spenders Malaga will be expected to collect maximum points and keep a third La Liga clean sheet against strugglers Athletic Bilbao (Malaga 4/6, draw 11/4, Athletic Bilbao 4/1 – Match Prices).

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Will Spain win Under-21 final?

Posted on by
Reply

The 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship reaches its climax on Saturday with Switzerland playing Spain in the final. The Spaniards are sweeping all before them at full international level so can their young counterparts walk away with the trophy this weekend? (Spain 4/7 fav to win Match Betting)

It would be almost unthinkable for a Spanish side not to reach the final of a major tournament at present such is their dominance in the world game.

The senior side are both World Cup and European champions and it is now down to the youngsters to make it a hat-trick of titles.

The Spanish kicked off their campaign with a draw against England but that was just a blip en route to the semi-finals as they beat the Czech Republic 2-0 and took care of the Ukraine 3-0.

Deportivo de La Coruna star Adrian has been on fire for the favourites with two goals against the Czechs, while also bagging the third against Ukraine.

But he reserved his best for the semi-finals with an 89th-minute strike rescuing his side and forcing extra time against Belarus.

The 23-year-old then found the back of the net again and, with Jeffren also on target, they swept into the final to face the Swiss.

Adrian is a prolific goalscorer at international level and will be a key player for Luis Milla’s side as they attempt to claim the title.

Switzerland were even more impressive in the group stage of the event, winning all three of their matches with victories over Denmark, Iceland and Belarus (Swiss 11/4 to win Euro Champs outright).

They also needed extra time to reach the final, with Admir Mehmedi bagging the only goal of the game to set up the clash with Spain.

While Spain have relied on Adrian for their goals, Mehmedi has done the most damage for the Swiss with three strikes, and the Albanian-born hit-man will have to be watched on Saturday.

He was dropped after the first group game but clearly has the bit between his teeth and is looking to help his side secure their first European Championship in Aarhus.

The last time these two sides met at this level was in a play-off for the 2009 tournament in Sweden, which Spain won 4-3 on aggregate, and so Pierluigi Tami’s charges are on something of a revenge mission this time around.

The two sides play contrasting styles of football with Spain content to keep the ball for long periods before attacking with pace and precision to carve open defences, while the Swiss are masters of the counter-attack and are prepared to trust their water-tight defence before launching rapid attacks.

Switzerland have yet to concede a goal in the tournament and, despite being second favourites to win the final, will not be fazed by the prospect of facing the talented Spanish outfit.

Timm Klose will need to marshal his defence to perfection to see off the threat of Adrian and his talented attacking team-mates and the match might resemble a training ground exercise at times, with wave after wave of Spanish attacks thwarted by a resolute rearguard.

The Swiss defence might be able to hold out but the question is, can they find the back of the net when it matters most?

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

England prepared for classy Spain

Posted on by
Reply

Stuart Pearce claims his young lions (England 23/10 in Match Betting) are fully prepared and confident ahead of their opening Group B clash with tournament favourites Spain (Evens) in the European Under-21 Championships tomorrow.

The coach is without full internationals Jack Wilshere, Andy Carroll and Kieran Gibbs, but still believes he has enough talent at his disposal to trouble the Spanish who, like England, didn’t win their qualifying group.

England defeated Spain 2-0 at the same stage two years ago in Sweden but, although they made the final of that tournament, lost 4-0 to a Mesut Ozil-inspired Germany which provided several members of the World Cup semi-finalists’ senior squad a year later.

Without Gibbs, who picked up an injury in the final warm-up match against Norway this week, Pearce must promote his only other left-back Ryan Bertrand into a back four which may also include captain Michael Mancienne and future Manchester United pairing Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.

England are arguably more potent in attack than two years ago with both Danny Sturridge and Danny Welbeck having scored goals while on loan at Premier League clubs last season, but Spain look classier in midfield with Barcelona’s highly-rated Thiago Alcantara the star of their 1-1 friendly draw with Russia on the eve of the finals.

However, Spain’s failure to beat both Belarus and Russia in their warm-up matches will give England confidence as Pearce sets up to play on the counter-attack with the pace of Sturridge and Welbeck.

And England (9/4 in Group B Outright Winner), despite last winning the Under-21 tournament back in 1984, have had the better of Spain (5/4) in five of their eight previous meetings, drawing once and losing twice.

In Group B’s other fixture on Sunday Ukraine face the Czech Republic in a match which will evoke memories of these nations’ meetiing at the Euro Under-17 finals four years ago, with a lot of the same players involved.

Lukas Marecek put the Czechs 1-0 up in Italy but Ukraine responded with four Dmytro Korkishko goals, including a 12-minute hat-trick before half-time. Miroslav Stepanek pulled one back before Serhiy Shevchuk made it 5-2 before the final whistle.

The Czechs were the only team to remain undefeated through qualifying – winning nine games and drawing one. Top scorer Tomas Pekhart grabbed nine goals in qualifying while Libor Kozak scored three.

They also have plenty of creative midfield options – Liberec’s Borek Dockal and Sigma’s Tomas Horava will be on many scouts’ lists while Kaiserslautern’s Jan Moravek may be the best of those already playing outside the country (Czech Republic 7/2 in Group B Outright Winner).

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Spain set for Czech battle

Posted on by
Reply

Attention this weekend turns to the international scene when qualification for Euro 2012 resumes in earnest with a host of teams in action on Friday, including world champions and 7/2 outright tournament favourites Spain who host Czech Republic as the top two in Group I go head to head.

Spain have won their opening three matches in the campaign to lead the group by three points, but were made to work in their last outing as Scotland fought back from 2-0 down, only for Fernando Llorente to score with 11 minutes left to secure the three points.

The Czechs suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Lithuania in their first match but have bounced back to see off both Scotland and Liechtenstein and can make life hard for the home side on Friday night.

It is difficult to see past 2/9 favourites Spain in the match betting, given their record of 17 successive qualifying victories and 22 unbeaten, while they have won their last nine competitive matches since that shock defeat to Switzerland in the World Cup.

However, Czech Republic do boast an impressive head-to-head record against Spain, leading 7-5 with one draw, and will try to make themselves hard to beat on Friday so Draw/Spain at 16/5 in the Half-time/Full-time market looks tempting.

Austria look a big price at 7/5 to see off Belgium in Vienna, given the fact they were leading 3-2 in Brussels before Paul Scharner was sent off in the reverse fixture last time out.

The hosts hit back through Marvin Ogunjimi and Nicolas Lombaerts to seemingly win the game, before the 10 men of Austria snatched a point in injury time through Martin Harnik.

Austria have only lost once in 13 games to Belgium and never in Vienna, with a record of four wins and a draw, while they have now won their last five competitive home fixtures and can keep on the coat-tails of Germany at the top of Group A with the win.

The top two in Group C also go head to head with Slovenia looking to join Italy on 10 points when they clash in Ljubljana on Friday, although the visitors are the Evens favourites in the match betting.

However, Slovenia are fancied to upset the odds at 13/5 having won one and drawn one of only two previous meetings on home territory, while it is also expected to be a low-scoring encounter – four of the five results between the two sides have ended 1-0, with the other being a 1-1 draw.

Holland at 4/9 and France at 1/25 look nailed on to see off Hungary and Luxembourg respectively, even though both are away from home, while Northern Ireland’s unbeaten start to the campaign looks to be coming to an end.

Nigel Worthington’s men (6/1 – match betting) followed up a credible draw against Italy with a not-so impressive draw against Faroe Islands and will have their work cut out against a Serbia side desperate for the win.

What may work in the visitors favour is the fact that the match is being played behind closed doors following the riots in Genoa, but having lost only one match previously and none at home, Serbia are expected to justify 4/9 favouritism.

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Robben predicts pain for Spain

Posted on by
Reply

Arjen Robben says he and his Holland team-mates are determined not to let their opponents Spain control Sunday’s World Cup final (Holland 11/4 to win – 90 minutes).

The Spaniards dominated their semi-final against a very defensive Germany side and the Bayern Munich midfielder is determined his side will not suffer the same fate.

“We will defend from the front,” said Robben. “No-one here feels they are too special to get their hands dirty.

“I was surprised with how freely Germany let Spain play. We have to start pressing them earlier.”

Spain have dominated possession in their games so far in the tournament with players such as Xavi, Iniesta and Xabi Alonso controlling the pace of the game with their patient passing approach.

The key to a Dutch success could be down to the performance of the Oranje’s defensive midfielder Mark Van Bommel who has been key alongside Nigel De Jong in breaking down play and winning the ball in order to give it to Holland’s more creative players.

The Bayern midfielder came under criticism for a number of robust challenges in the semi-final against Uruguay, one which led to Holland’s first goal and was eventually shown a yellow card for kicking the ball away in the final moments.

However, Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk, who is also Van Bommel’s father-in-law says he sees no problem in the midfielder’s aggressive approach.

“I don’t agree with what people are saying,” said Van Marwijk. “The yellow card on Tuesday was his first in the entire competition. He has shown a lot of discipline in his play.”

Despite winning all of their six games so-far in the tournament, the Oranje have come under fire for shunning the traditional Dutch style of ‘total football’ in favour of a more pragmatic approach.

The total football philosophy was first employed by the Dutch side in 1974 who went on to lose 2-1 in the final to hosts West Germany. They went on to lose again in the final in 1978 and Robben says his side are happy to expense with his nation’s traditional flair in the favour of winning football (Robben 9/1 first goal scorer).

“I would much prefer to win a very ugly game than lose a beautiful one,” said Robben. “We can still play attractive football but we can always rely on our good organisation as well.

“If you are organised, you know one goal could be enough, which has been the case so far. The point is, we are in a World Cup final. From now on how you actually play no longer matters.

“Of course, the intent is there to play good football but the result is far more important.

“We have heard enough of talk about how our football is very nice. But it gets you nowhere. We want to achieve something.”

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Spain can rock Holland – Torres

Posted on by
Reply

Spain striker Fernando Torres has revealed La Roja have been inspired all the way to the World Cup final in South Africa by Leicester rockers Kasabian (Spain 8/15f – World Cup Outright).

Torres and his Euro 2008-winning team-mates have been gearing themselves up before their matches by listening to Kasabian’s debut album which blares out in the dressing room right up until the players emerge for the national anthems.

And Liverpool star Torres is hoping to catch the band in action after the World Cup, hopefully with a winner’s medal in his pocket following Sunday’s final clash against Holland at Soccer City, Johannesburg.

He told The Sun: “Club Foot has got us to the final, so I would like to give a big thanks to Kasabian.

“Of course we will be playing it before the final against Holland on Sunday.

“So if the band are sitting watching the game then they will know that at about 7.20pm we will be getting pumped up to their most classic track.

“If we win the World Cup I would like to present them with a Spain shirt signed by all of us lads because their music has been a big inspiration to us in the dressing room.

“We will all come to watch them.”

Torres is sweating on his place in Spain’s XI for the game against the Dutch after finding himself on the bench for the semi-final win over Germany on Wednesday night.

Spain boss Vicente del Bosque had claimed Torres would start in midweek but he sprang a surprise and is now keeping his cards close to his chest over Sunday’s selection (Torres 7/1 – Fifa Man of the Match).

The wily 59-year-old, who scored one goal for Spain during 18 appearances between 1975 and 1980, said: “I don’t know if he [Torres] will be in the line-up.”

Del Bosque added: “It was a difficult choice. Torres has been helping us all along. His work is important even if it is not noticed. He is good at occupying the centre-backs.

“I didn’t talk to him before I announced the line-up (against Germany). But he is a very important part of the team. He is one of the key members of the squad and a lovely guy.”

Key Spain defender Carles Puyol, 32, who scored the winner against Germany in the semi-finals, says he will decide on his international future after the final.

Spain have won all of their knockout games 1-0 at the World Cup – against Portugal, Paraguay and Germany – and they can be backed at 9/2 to beat Holland by the same scoreline.

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Neuer targets Spain shutout

Posted on by
Reply

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer says he is after clean sheet when his nation take on Spain (15/8 outright World Cup winners) in Wednesday’s semi-final.

The Schalke shot-stopper has made a big name for himself at the World Cup, producing a string of fine performances as Germany (7/4 to beat Spain) eased into the last four.

While the likes of Mesut Ozil, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose (7/2 top scorer) have grabbed the headlines it’s been Neuer keeping them in the matches at the other end.

The 24-year-old has made the most saves out of the four goalkeepers left at the World Cup, denying opponents on 18 occasions.

He has also conceded just two goals, although that should number should be one higher following Frank Lampard’s goal that wasn’t given in the second round.

Having been dubbed the ‘German Casillas’ by the nation’s media Neuer is keen to match his skills up against his Spanish counterpart, Iker Casillas.

“I haven’t heard that, but of course it’s an honour to be compared to Casillas,” said Neuer. “He is an incredibly good goalkeeper who has enjoyed so much success in the past. But I like to play for a zero and it will be the same on Wednesday.”

Having kept Argentina at bay in the last round, Neuer is confident of another clean sheet in Durban as he looks to help Germany avenge their Euro 2008 final defeat to Spain.

While Neuer has been in fine form in South Africa he believes it is all down to his defenders as to why he has only conceded two goals so far.

“It is thanks to some outstanding defending that we have only conceded two goals in the tournament, we can be very happy with that,” he said.

The German’s defence is likely to be tested to the limit by Spain, in particular by David Villa who has looked unstoppable at times during this tournament.

The Barcelona forward is currently leading the way in the race for the golden boot with five goals to his name and will be looking to take advantage of the slightly cumbersome centre-halfs Arne Friedrich and Per Mertesacker.

However, Neuer has backed his team mates to deal with Villa and co, claiming they can boss the game against the less physical Spaniards.

“You have to show the opposition who’s boss,” said Neuer. “If you manage that, you have already achieved a little something.”

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Spain hoping to go Dutch

Posted on by
Reply

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).

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Spain to stick with Torres

Posted on by
Reply

Fernando Torres may not have been at his best this World Cup but Spain are set to keep faith with the striker when they take on Paraguay in the quarter-finals on Saturday (Spain 1/2 to win).

Despite struggling with injury in the lead up to the tournament, Torres was expected to be in the running to land the golden boot, but he has failed to hit the back of the net in any of Spain’s games so far and has been scratching around for form and full fitness.

The Liverpool marksman, who could leave Anfield later this summer, looked rusty in the group games and even though he was sharper against Portugal in the second round win, it was again left to David Villa to wrap up the victory.

In fact Spain only looked a real threat to the resolute Portuguese defence when Torres was replaced by Fernando Llorente midway through the second half.

There had been suggestions that Llorente could be in line to start in attack against Paraguay but that has been ruled out by Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, who has every confidence in the player and will keep the faith.

“Our striker right now is Fernando Torres,” said Del Bosque. “He’s played four games, a lot of minutes and will play more. We’ve got full confidence in him.”

Spain have goals throughout the team so they do not have to rely on Torres but if the striker can find his shooting boots in the remaining matches World Cup glory will be on the cards for the Spanish.

Torres is 4/1 to grab the first goal against Paraguay but once again Villa, who has been the star of the show for Spain so far this tournament, is 3/1 favourite.

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.