Spain, two in a row? Can Spain win back to back World Cups?

The Fifa World Cup is very nearly upon us so we asked our friends in the excellent website The League of Ireland Blog if they could share with us their opinions on some of the leading contenders in the upcoming World Cup.

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Spain

By DAN O’CARROLL

Spain enter Brazil as the reigning World Cup victors and back-to-back winners of the European Championships. Their club sides have also dominated European football since 2009 where Barcelona have won two Champions Leagues and Atletico Madrid and Andalusian side Sevilla, have won three of the last four Europa Leagues. This season’s European final featured an all Madrid final for the first time ever as both Real and Atletico went head to head, with Real powering to victory in extra time. Spanish football is at an all time high and the international side will look to continue the recent success that has been brought to the country.

There has been no major exclusions from the Spanish 30 man panel squad, bar maybe playmaker, Isco, who hasn’t settled in at Real Madrid as easy as he would have liked following a big money move from cash-strapped Malaga and has found himself down the pecking order behind the likes of Luka Modric and Angel Di Maria.Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago has been ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury. Carles Puyol who hasn’t featured since last year for La Roja hasn’t recovered from his long standing knee injuries and has contemplated retirement. Surprisingly, coach Vincent Del Bosque, has only selected three natural centre backs in the squad; Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique and Napoli defender, Raul Albiol. Real Sociedad stopper, Inigo Martinez was unexpectedly left out of the preliminarily squad given the shortage of centre backs at Del Bosque’s disposal. Alvaro Arbeloa is also another notable absentee as the utility defender was deemed surplus to requirements following an injury plagued season. Ander Iturraspe and Dani Carvajal are both included despite never winning a senior cap for La Roja.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez hasn’t made the squad despite Victor Valdes’ serious injury which has ruled him out of action for 6 months. Del Bosque has preferred Manchester United young shot-stopper David de Gea who will accompany Pepe Reina as the back up keepers to captain Iker Casillas.

As Del Bosque has still as of yet to name his final squad, I will talk you through the players, if they do go, that could light up Brazil in a few weeks time. Left back Alberto Moreno, has been a class act for Europa League winners Sevilla, this season. Such rave reviews has had the youngster linked with Real Madrid and Liverpool. If Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke is confirmed he will be demonstrate the skills that has made him one of the star players of La Liga this season. Koke’s Atletico teammate Juanfran, should start at right back after being named in the La Liga team of the season.

One problem that Spain do have is a lot of players are currently injured and struggling for fitness including; Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, and their star striker Diego Costa. Brazilian born Costa has scored an impressive 36 goals in all competitions this season, and is all set to move to Chelsea for £35 million after the World Cup. Costa who has ironically been capped twice by the host nation is deemed as the killer striker needed for Spain to win their 4th major trophy in a row. If Costa does not make the squad and the injury is worse than first feared this could prove disastrous for the side ranked number 1 in the FIFA World Rankings. Cesc Fabregas played in the ‘false 9’ role last time for Spain and Costa will more than likely be spearheading an attack with the likes of David Silva, Juan Mata, Pedro, and Jesus Navas all looking for spot out wide.

Barcelona players; Xavi Hernandéz and Andreas Iniesta have hardly set the world alight this season for the Catalan giants but these players will play a huge role on how successful Spain are in this tournament. Iniesta who is the man for the big game, has always delivered when needed including scoring the goal the won La Furia Roja their maiden World Cup in Soccer City, four years ago. In Euro 2012, the odd pairing of Ramos and Piqué put club rivalries aside and formed an impeccable partnership at the heart of the defence, and must show their leadership skills to keep a somewhat fragile defence secure.

If every player is deemed fit for Del Bosque I could see him only take one other out and out striker with Costa, I believe that man could be either Fernand Llorente or Alvaro Negredo. I think top scorer David Villa and £50 million Fernando Torres may miss out.

Spain find themselves in a tough group along with beaten finalists in 2010 The Netherlands, Chile (a team they also beat in 2010) and outsiders Australia. Spain will open their campaign against The Netherlands which will prove to be a mouth-watering clash, however I actually feel that Chile will prove to be the biggest threat to the World Champions as the Dutch are losing manager Louis Van Gaal to Manchester United after the tournament and I don’t feel they have the quality they have had in recent tournaments to mount a serious challenge. I tip Spain and Chile to progress through to the last 16 from Group B.

I think Spain have as good a chance as any team to win the World Cup again and cement themselves in history along with Italy and Brazil to win the tournament on back-to-back occasions. However, they had a poor display at last years Confederations Cup where they were lucky to beat Italy on penalties and were hammered 3-0 by Brazil. They must maintain the mental strength and stick to their tika-taka philosophy that has yielded so much success in recent times. Counter attacking teams like Germany and Brazil would fancy their chances to exploit this possession football and Spain must adapt when they don’t have the ball by playing a high pressing game. If they do this I think the World Cup could easily be staying in the hands of captain, Casillas.

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Napoli), David de Gea (Manchester United)

Defenders: Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos (both Real Madrid), Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba (both Barcelona), Cesar Azplicueta (Chelsea), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Alberto Moreno (Sevilla)

Midfielders: Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas (all Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Ander Iturraspe (Athletic Bilbao), David Silva (Manchester City), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Tiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich), Juan Mata (Manchester United)

Forwards: Diego Costa, David Villa (both Atletico Madrid), Alvaro Negredo, Jesus Navas (both Manchester City), Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Juventus), Fernando Torres (Chelsea)

June 13 Salvador, 20:00: Spain v Holland

June 18 Rio de Janeiro, 23:00: Spain v Chile

June 23 Curitiba, 17:00: Australia v Spain

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