Paraguay vs. Spain – This One is Going to Be Tight

Spain will look to win its own mental battle when facing Paraguay on Saturday. Al Dannity says to expect a tight battle.

Don’t ignore the past
It has been 60 long years since Spain reached the Final Four of the World Cup. Since 1950 fans of La Roja have been subjected to countless false dawns. Victory in the 1968 European Championships would be followed quickly the barren spell of the 1970s. Hosting the 1982 World Cup should have been a huge advantage but instead they suffered defeat to lowly Northern Ireland before going out in the quarter finals. Olympic gold came in 1992, followed by a silver in 2000 but neither led to a World Cup breakthrough. Is it any wonder then that fans of the current European Champions are nervous about this tie with Paraguay?

Defense will be decisive
Between them Paraguay and Spain have conceded just three goals in eight World Cup games. That’s a phenomenal defensive record at this stage of the competition. That’s why I really like Sports Interaction’s price of -169 on the under of +2.5 goals.

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Look at the way these teams have played. Bar one bit of insanity against Switzerland, Spain has looked to control the game from the back before unleashing its front men David Villa and Fernando Torres. Villa has been particularly potent in this competition but even he will have trouble against a Paraguay backline which has not been breached once in the last 327 minutes of action. At this stage the most important skill is minimizing errors and Paraguay knows this better than any team

Experience will tell
Traditional concepts of experience and talent have gone out the window in this World Cup. Team spirit has overcome individual skill on almost every occasion so far. One man however has the ability to manage a team loaded with the egos that match the salaries of top European stars. Spain manager Vicente del Bosque stuck around long enough to come out of Real Madrid a success, dealing with the kind of player headaches France and England couldn’t survive in this World Cup. He’s already had a mini-crisis with that defeat against Switzerland but Spain has come out stronger for it. This is a team which can set aside individual differences and focus on the task at hand. Vicente del Bosque is the reason and I like him to guide Spain to a narrow victory in this game.

XXIX: Gabriel Morency previews the World Cup Quarter Finals

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