When people talk about Spain vs Portugal certainly their first thought will be the battle of young, premier strikers.
Spain’s David Villa
And, of course, Portugal’s Christiano Ronaldo. He hasnt made much an impact yet in this tournament. Can he come up big today? Or will he spend too much going down on the ground at every draft of wind in an attempt to draw fouls?
Allow me a few other random thoughts that go beyond the mercurial, high scoring strikers.
So far in this second round, we’ve had rematches, European powers and South American continent mates go head to head, but in this match, we might have the only true rivlary game of the second round. In my quest for futbol education, I have been watching a lot of the Greatest Rivalries series broadcast by the Fox Sports Channel. They took a nice, long dive into the Spain/Portugal rivalry these Iberian Peninsula neighbors have. What fascinated my was how much angst, rage, and chip on the shoulder emotions that Portugal saves for Spain. Bizarrely, Portugal wants to beat Spain badly, but also, however, they yearn to be Spain. I didnt get the sense Spain felt as intense about the rivalry. I’ll quit with the dime store psychology before I turn away any readers from Portugal or within the Benifica fanbase. But, make no mistkae, Spain vs Portugal gives the World Cup today perhaps the best example of Big Brother vs Little Brother in this entire tournament. Mike Hart and Mark Dantonio should watch together (Zing!).
Neither team has peaked in the World Cup. Spain actually lost a game in group play. Portugal has played two relatively manufactured draws sandwhiched around an epic beatdown of North Korea. Something like 75 percent of all of Portugal’s goal ever in World Cup play have been scored against North Korea. That percent needs to go down several points if Portugal wants to overcome their Spanish bigger brother and advance in this tournament. There is no way they can get away with a nil/nil draw–the score in their ties with Ivory Coast and Brazil–and bank on penalty kicks to win. They are going to need to score at least twice if they want to win this game or even extend into extra time.
Of course, I could be way wrong. Portugals defense is pretty top flight. Everybody, especially this blog, has been pimping Uruguay and their amazing defense. It can carry them deep into this field. Well, let’s not sleep on POrtugal back line. Portugal is, after all, on a 19-game unbeaten streak. And with just three goals conceded in those contests, the Navigators know how to throw a shutout on the board. They blanked Ivory Coast and Brazil in group play. They’ll sink upwards of six guys back in defense-first stance. You have to go really wide on them to be successful. Ivory Coast and Brazil are two teams that like to go through you, but Portugal’s defensive wall was too strong to really allow much of that. Spain is another team that expects to dribble and run right past you. Can they get the Portugal wall?
Spain is obviously paced by Villa He’s rolling with 41 goals in 61 international caps for Spain. He also has 59 goals in 82 club appearances the last two seasons. He has some of the prettiest goals we’ve seen in the tournament thus far. Spain is pretty much a La Liga all star team, but only one if you were picking from its top four teams. La Liga’s top four teams make the Champions Cup and among those squads this year–Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla, 17 of the national team’s 23 players hail from one of those clubs, including seven who played last year for the league champ Barca. There is some non La Liga flair to this club as its second most dangerous offensive player Fernando Torres is a bigtime scorer for Liverpool in the EPL. And that might be the irony of the day. Among a team chalk full of the best players, picked only from the best teams in their home country’s league, the fate of Spain in this game, and tournament, might rest in the fate of its one star who plays for a foreign league. Will Torres be healthy and fit enough to go a full game or even have any impact on this game at all. Villa could really use the offensive support going up against this defense.
Is it worth noting that all of the first six games in the second round have gone over the 2.5 goal total? That includes the Netherlands/Slovakia game which only titled the Over on a meaningless PK on the last play of the game. Interesting. Some folks were very intrigued by those developments in sports betting parlors everywhere. Maybe, just maybe, somewhere Tom Donaghy is wondering where all the fuss is?
I cant really shake the feeling I had with yesterday’s Brazil/Chile game. I think the gap is noticeably smaller between the two clubs today. Chile just cant compete yet with Brazil. But, Portugal can play with Spain. But, in the end, its too much Xavi in the midfield and Villa upfront. The teams exchange first half goals. Spain re-established its lead by the 60-minute mark. Pourtugal will look to knot the game, but Spain delivers the fatal blow and key insurance goal in the 85th minute en route to a 3-1 win.
Yeah, like England-Germany's not a rivalry! I've never heard of these two sides having much animosity toward each other.
What can I say? FSC devoted a 30 minute Doc to the rivalry between these two.
It seems pretty one sided. Portugal calls it a rivalry. Spain wants to beat Portugal so they dont have to hear about from them. It really does have the Big Bro/Little Bro feel, maybe I stretched it to make that quip in the post?
But, I was struck in the Doc how intense the Portugal guys were about playnig and beating Spain. Does England want to be Germany above and beyond everyone else? I am not sure, but as I've said throughout the soccer coverage, I am a newb and the education is ongoing.
Should be a fun game. I have it on DVR and have been dilligently avoiding the sports site and I am a few minutes away from wrapping up at the office to go home and watch it. Cant wait.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. You're more than welcome to chip in with insights at anytime, my friend.