Oh I get you. Van Persie and Alexis can definitely feed on any scraps they get! Another thing, in all the matches I have watched and seen Spain get overun a bit is when Alonso is missing. Great examples are the last two confed cup matches when USA and Brazil have beaten Spain. Is he more important to the side than most people seem to think?

We played Chile in a friendly in September and only just scraped a draw in injury time. They were great, agressive, pressed us well and had a large chunk of the possession. As usual in friendlies, we lacked intensity and were very, very fortunate to get away with a draw.

It's true that both Alonso and Busquets were missing for that game too btw, but nevertheless Chile have look very good for the past year. Even when they've lost, they've kept their matches very tight.

I agree the Netherlands seem to have tailed off in recent times, but they're still not a country I'd particularly want to face, especially as they'll want payback for 2010.

Agree on all counts! Chile is a team I would rather not face even more so than Holland. Even Busquets missed that game? I didn't remember that!

I meant the Chile game, not the Confeds. Busquets has had a pretty meh season too.

On current form, we look far, far easier to bypass with him and Xavi in midfield and have more trouble retaining possession. Xabi meantime has become too reckless for my liking and is prone to picking up bookings for unnecessary challenges, so if we did go far I'd expect him to pick up a suspension at some point or other.

Croatia is a team I'd like to see more of. Loved them at the Euros and they weren't even playing Rakitic alongside Modric.

I'm currently five chapters into Diego Torres' book about Mourinho- I am still not sure whether to believe it all or whether it is a character assassination. Anyone else read this?

The issues with Xavi and Alonso is why I think Thiago has to go and has to start. He would just offer a lot more than Alonso.

VDB will obviously go tried and trusted, he always does. But it really is going to be to the detriment of the teams chances. He should have been much more will to use Thiago and Koke over the last year.

Spain have more than enough talent and exp to win the WC, but I fear desire to give the old guard one last shot is going to cost Spain big.

My line up would be:

Casillas

Carvajal
Ramos
Pique
Alba

Busquets
Thiago

Pedro
Xavi/Cesc (Cesc could be a tourney winner in this role)
Silva

Costa

Iniesta for Sliva! How could I forget him!

David De Gea
Azpi Ramos Pique Alba
Javi Garcia Xabi Alonso
Fabregas David Silva Iniesta
Fernando Torres

thiago is injured and will likely not be in Spain's final squad

Grande
Javi Garcia instead of Javi Martinez?

Thiago will be a big miss Peks if that is true.

yer its been confirmed he's out of the WC

Well that's awful! When is the final squad being announced?

not sure think it might be on the 30th May

After a couple of friendlies right? Just hope Torres gets the axe. He is truly awful really!

Sevilla have won it It is now official, BENFICA ARE CURSED!!

benfica

they need a priest to exorcise the demons

Bloody amazing.

8 euro final defeats on the bounce and counting

poor benfica <sadface.

Gotta feel sorry for them really.

comment by pekster11 (U6618)
posted 52 seconds ago
8 euro final defeats on the bounce and counting
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wow, eight?!! It must really suck to be a Benfica fan I am sure! It's a wonder they still watch the matches when they reach the finals.

i feel sorry for them ..poor basstards

Yet Sevilla have been in three finals in their history, all in the last eight years, and won all three.

Spanish mentality > Portuguese mentality

comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 18 seconds ago
Yet Sevilla have been in three finals in their history, all in the last eight years, and won all three.

Spanish mentality > Portuguese mentality
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That is incredible! They are the anti-Benfica I guess.