Getting To Know Your Teammates Never Meant So Much
Spain kicks off its friendly schedule pre-World Cup on Saturday with a match against Saudi Arabia, after a little less than a week of training at Las Rozas as a team. On Friday the team will travel to their Austrian training complex for high altitude training and a series of matches. After naming his 23-man roster last week, Del Bosque set out fine tuning the fitness and preparedness of his men before three friendlies allowed him to make assessments of possible tactics, formations, player selections and weaknesses in three very different situations. Friendlies against Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Poland will provide Del Bosque with three very different opponents, which should help the Spanish team fine tune its various tactics against such opposition. Although it is typically a time where national teams pair up based on closeness of countries style to that of the teams group mates (did you get that?), Del Bosque is using his friendlies as way to expose the team to three very different brands of football from three continents.
Of course it may be short sighted that La Furia does not face any South American/Central American opposition in order to simulate a match against a Honduras or Chile-like team. To me its immaterial, seeing as how every nation plays it a little bit different given the players they field and the coach who gives them instructions, but still, then generalization is somewhat comforting for many fans. Going in to the game against Saudi Arabia, only Fernando Torres did not train with the team as he nears recovery from his multiple knee surgeries. This being the sixth of a 6-7 week recuperation phase means Torres will miss the Saudi game, but has a low probability of playing in the South Korea game and a higher probability of playing against Poland next week.
Sergio Ramos did not train on Wednesday due to muscular annoyances, but he should be fine for the friendly, as will Cesc Fabregas, who has recovered from his broken leg but had a minor scare in training this week when he collided with Pepe Reina and Alvaro Arbeloa (the banner picture above shows the collision) and looked to have injured his shoulder. He ended up being alright, but there were nervous moments as the physios tended to his problem. Other then that though, its been pretty dull at Las Rozas. The confusion over the club futures of Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas, as well as the recent signing of David Villa have not been much of a focus for the press at this point, as the annual managerial shuffle at Real Madrid has been dominating headlines in Spain. This of course suits Vicente Del Bosque just fine, as he likes to work with his men in seclusion, without media distractions. With that in mind, he has banned the use of ’social media’ (read: useless crap that passes as human interaction) in an attempt to eliminate distractions from camp. While that may seem a little over zealous, there have been instances of ‘tweets’ causing minor uproars in the press, so eliminating those possibilities seems logical. If I was on the WC squad, I could do without Facebook and Twitter for a few weeks.
With the background of the match more or less non-existant, given the lack of any physical problems for the players (thats a good thing!) and no intrigue in terms of the opponents, Saudi Arabia, this post will end a little short. I cant name a single Saudi player, and I will not attempt to, as they are simply a tune up match.
But we cant start to think about who will start the match, and in what sort of formation. And then there is the substitutions, which gives you a look in to who Del Bosque sees as an impact player from the bench. A ‘Guiza’ if you will. My money is on Llorente, Pedro, Busquets and Arbeloa all being useful substitutes for different situations.
My assumed starting 11 for Saturday looks like this:
————-Casillas————-
Ramos—-Pique—Puyol—Capdevila
———–Xavi—Xabi———–
Cesc———Silva———Mata
————–Villa————–
Dont shoot the messenger here, but I think this makes the most sense given Torres being out and Iniesta not having played in awhile. Sure Cesc may not be fit either, but he seems likely to get atleast a half in this game in a bid to help the lack of fitness, and the same can be said for Iniesta. You can interchange the two in the role as a third midfielder, with Silva playing centrally but able to drift to which ever wing does not have a true winger. Essentially how Valencia plays, and have been for some time. I picked Mata to start as the true winger only because he has the most experience of the three with the national team, but Navas could start on the right and move Cesc/Iniesta to the other side of the field if Del Bosque sees fit. Navas and Mata offer great wing play but Silva and Pedro are more hybrid players in that they can play all over the attacking half. That elusiveness is always a plus, but true wingers stretch the opponent, creating space for the elusive types to exploit, or for the strikers to attack in the box.
The attacking half of the midfield is very fluid, and players are pretty much interchangeable. Pedro provides more versatility, and he may see time, but bet on Llorente coming in for Villa at some point to change how the team approaches the final third. Del Bosuqe may be smart to use two true wingers with Llorente to get crosses into the box for the big man to charge down. It also may be advantagious to have Javi Martinez sub in for Xabi Alonso at that point, as his late runs into the box and quality in the air are a great option.
Considering Busquets is the most defensive of the four central midfielders, he may not even see time in this game considering the quality of the opponent, but it would be worth using him if Del Bosque wants to free the three man attacking midfield from much of its defensive work. In the back, Raul Albiol and Arbeloa will provide options at the back, while Marchena can play at center back or as a deep lying midfielder in much the same posture as Busquets or what Del Bosque will ask Xabi Alonso to do.
I do worry that between Xavi and Xabi Alonso there will not be enough defensive cover for the back four. While both players will maintain the ball well, neither is known as a great tackler/screener. Then again, if they always have the ball then they do not have to win it back as often. Given Saudi Arabia will probably only press the ball deep in their own half, this may not be much of a concern for this game but it will be later on towards tournament time.
Come the second half, expect the same formation, although it might use a 3 man central midfield if he wants to see his team close out the game.
Game time is 12pm eastern, and it will be shown live in Spain, but for those fans across the globe, streams can be found here and here.
I am going to do my best to catch the match, but noon on a Saturday, which is a holiday weekend here in the US, may be a tough prospect. None the less, expect a small review of the game as we continue our coverage of Spain’s preparations for the World Cup.
