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Well false my nine. Vicente Del Bosque has found the solution to their striker dilemma: they haven't picked one. Craig Levein got there first lads! What a preposterous bunch of phony show-offs. There is a debate to be had about how fondly this side will be remembered, because tiki-taka without Lionel Messi hasn't really been that entertaining. Cesc Fabregas, perhaps due to his sharp-shooting display against Chelsea, is in the Andy Carroll role. Watching them is going to be like watching the dance class Jez went to with the one from Clueless. While Spain have no strikers, Italy have two nutcases up front.
Visionary Vince's Art Project: Casillas; Arbeloa, Ramos, Pique, Alba; Alonso, Busquets; Silva, Xavi, Iniesta; Fabregas.
Italy, complete with The Two Clowns: Buffon; Bonucci, De Rossi, Chiellini; Maggio, Motta, Giaccherini, Pirlo, Marchisio; Cassano, Balotelli.
Referee: V Kassai (Hungary).
All good things must come to an end at some point. The Sopranos. The summer holidays. A steak at the Hawksmoor, even a one kilo porterhouse. Dawson's Creek. And now, this summer, after four years of unrelenting dominance, it could quite possibly be the turn of tiki-taka to come to a grisly end. On first glance, that's a quite nonsensical thing to write and you should really expect better from your super soaraway Guardian sport. Spain are the European and world champions and could become the first European side to win three major tournaments in a row, succeeding where first West Germany were Panenka'd in 1976 and then France were Dioufed in 2002. We know they will dominate possession to an embarrassing extent in every game and we also know that they have players who are the envy of every other side in the Euros, even Roy Hodgson.
That's all well and good and everything, only there's one tiny matter that could prove to be their undoing – who's going to score the goals for Spain? At the World Cup, they relied on a run of 1-0 victories in each of their knock-out matches. The first two were secured by David Villa goals, the third by a thumping header from Carles Puyol and the fourth by Andres Iniesta in extra time in the final against Holland. Problem being, Villa, Spain's top scorer at Euro 2008 and the World Cup, isn't in the squad due to fitness, meaning that the lone striker role will be filled by one of Fernando Llorente, Alvaro Negredo or Fernando Torres. A trio of talented players, but a trio of players with plenty to prove for Spain. Moreover while it seems counter-intuitive to suggest that a team containing Xavi, Iniesta and David Silva will struggle to create, there is a hint of a side verging on self-parody here, of one that hasn't quite struck the right balance between players who pass and players who will run at defences and shoot against teams that will generally be happy to sit back and frustrate Spain.
Italy fall into that category. Even though they flopped at the last World Cup, playing so badly that their manager Marcello Lippi was forced to relocate and live out at sea, Spain are right to be wary of the Italians. Fans of omens will point to the latest scandal to hit Italian football as proof that they're going to go and win the tournament; Italy famously won the 1982 and 2006 World Cups after match-fixing scandals. Perhaps more pertinent is the ingrained Spanish fear of all things Italian. Spain have never scored a goal against Italy in the European Championships and needed a penalty shoot-out in 2008 to finally get that monkey off their back, although Italy are hardly without problems of their own, given that they've just been beaten 3-0 by Russia at home and haven't scored since November. But while Cesare Prandelli has favoured a more expansive style, if they need to you wouldn't put it past a team that conceded just twice in qualifying to adopt the Chelsea blueprint. And then leave the rest to Mario Balotelli and Antonio Cassano up front.
Kick-off: 5pm BST.
Venue: PGE Arena, Gdansk. Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
