Spain – World Cup 2010 Preview #31 (Group H)

Spain – World Cup preview

For many years now Spain have been tipped by everyone as one of the favourites to win the World Cup, but also for a long time Spain have carried the label of being perennial underachievers.

Having produced so many talented players over the decades, ranging from greats like Emilio Butragueño, Michel, and Andoni Zubizarreta in the 80’s, Luís Enrique, Fernando Hierro, Pep Guardiola in the 90’s to the modern day elite, it’s hard to see why delivering on the big stage has become such a problem. Of course the victory at Euro 2008 has shown that they are capable of producing when it matters, but even more importantly, it’s about time they showed that they are able to perform on the biggest stage of all; the World Cup.

Appearances at World Cup finals: 12

History / Best ever performance: It’s been so long you have to look back over 50 years to find Spain’s best result at the World Cup. This came at the World Cup finals of 1950 where a team managed by Guillermo Eizaguirre and a country still under the dictatorship of Franco managed to finish in fourth place.

Between then and 1982, all they could manage were a string of disappointing first round exits. Then came the 1982 World Cup, which was hosted by Spain themselves so whilst expectations were even higher than ever, so was the pressure. True to fashion, they were unable to make an impact at their home World Cup, led by coach José Santamaría and after some unimpressive group game performances they were knocked out in the second round.

Next came the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, a team packed with stars who qualified by topping their group; everything was looking good for them. Even though they lost their first group game to Brazil, they went on win their next two games putting themselves into the second round.  The opponents in the next round were Denmark. Confidence was soaring at the end of this game as it saw one of Real Madrid’s legendary Quinta del Buitre members Emilio Butragueño fire four goals past the Danes. But this was soon to be diminished, as a poor performance and eventual loss on penalties against Belgium in the quarter finals signalled another disappointing end for La Roja.

Into the ‘90’s, a run of good of form under new coach Luis Suárez saw Spain qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. There they progressed as the winners of their group, carrying on their good form with two wins and a draw. Again, disappointment followed for the Spanish when they lost 2-1 in what was an eventful game against Yugoslavia. However, it was a game they felt they should have, and could have won but were denied by a Dragan Stojković winner in extra time.

Javier Clemente was then appointed and would take charge of the next two World Cups. The first in 1994 in the USA was Spain’s best result in a while, managing to reach the quarter finals only to be eliminated late on by Roberto Baggio and Italy. Then came France ’98, and the disastrous pattern continued when they didn’t even manage to make it out of the group phase. Into 2002, they were to be confronted at the quarter final stage by co-hosts and surprise package of the tournament South Korea.

After twice having goals ruled out, they went on to lose in another penalty shoot-out. And most recently was the appearance in Germany in 2006, after qualifying through the play-offs against Slovakia. Different manager, same ending again, as under manager Luis Aragónes they crashed out in only the second round losing 3-1 to France.

The Lowdown / Qualification: Here we are again with another highly talented bunch of players tipped for success, but can they handle the pressure this time? It will be Vicente del Bosque (who took over from Luis Aragonés after Euro 2008) taking up the huge challenge of leading Spain to their first ever World Cup.

Form under him in qualifying was excellent, achieving a perfect record of 10 wins out of 10 in the group and featuring a number of scintillating performances. Admittedly not the hardest group ever, but it did feature some very capable sides in Turkey, Belgium and eventual runners-up Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The campaign began with a win at home to Bosnia, regarded as one of the toughest opponents in the group, followed by 3-0 and 4-0 wins over Armenia and Estonia respectively. Next was a 2-1 victory over Belgium, back to back wins over Turkey and an impressive dismantling of Belgium 5-0. The run continued with easy victories over Estonia and Armenia again and was rounded off with a seven goal thriller winning 5-2 away in Bosnia.

Top scorer in qualifying: David Villa – 7 goals.

All-time World Cup finals top scorer: Estanislao Basora, Emilio Butragueno, Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes, Raul – 5.

Key player: Although it is almost impossible to single out one man as the key to Spain, right now I would have to go with Xavi, closely followed by David Villa. The new Barça man was the top goalscorer in qualifying, racking up a total of seven goals. As deadly as anyone in world football he will be looking to finish as the Golden Shoe winner as he did at Euro 2008. and hopefully take one step closer to overtaking all-time scoring record holder Raúl (44 to Villa’s current 36).

One to watch: The man to watch will be Xavi, the heartbeat of the team and the orchestrator of everything good. He’ll be hoping to bring his brilliant club form this season to the international stage and will be aiming to pick up another award for best player, as he did at his last major tournament.

On the move?: As usual, players impressing could attract attention from bidding clubs, but with Spain most of the players are at big clubs already and are unlikely to move off the back of a decent World Cup showing. So whilst most of their players are well known, it’ll be a chance for a couple of the “lesser” known players to enhance their reputations with any playing time they get. This includes players like Pedro, Juan Mata and Javi Martínez.

Summary: So as you can see confidence will be high within the Spanish camp and justifiably so. With the rest of the world fearing them, and the return of important players like Torres and Iniesta to come, they stand a very good chance of going all the way this summer.

Group H, Previews, Spain, World Cup 2010