Focussed Spain wary of Paraguay threat

Spain will be wary when they face Paraguay on Saturday in Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium of not making the same mistakes as in the past.

Until two years ago when the Spanish finally delivered on their undoubted promise by winning the European Championships, they had been known as the perennial chokers, or underachievers.

Such was the bemusement and indeed amusement in some quarters at Spain’s repeated inability to turn potential into achievement, that the term “perennial underachievers” seemed to have become a permanent prefix to the word Spain.

That was finally belied two years ago in Vienna when they beat Germany 1-0 to lift the European title and coming into this competition Spain were seen as joint-favourites alongside Brazil.

But not all lessons had been learned as the Iberians stumbled in their opening group match and were beaten 1-0 by Switzerland.

That seemed to focus minds, though, and the Spanish regrouped and rediscovered their form to move ominously into the last eight.

Their one concern, if there is one, is that Liverpool forward Fernando Torres has yet to find the net, but coach Vicente Del Bosque brushed aside any criticism of the former Atletico Madrid star.

“Fernando is our centre forward. He has put in a lot of minutes in four matches and will continue to do so and we have absolute confidence in him,” Del Bosque insisted.

“He shoulders a vast amount of work for the team, sticks to the centre-backs (of the opposing team), draws out defences and creates space for (David) Villa and other players behind him.”

Torres’s strike-partner Villa, who has been finding the back of the net, also defended his team-mate.

“The only thing you can ‘reproach’ (Torres) for is not to have scored yet. His desire to be with the team is truly spectacular,” Villa told Spanish television.

“Torres is not in bad form. He has admirable character and we all know his World Cup moment will arrive — hopefully against Paraguay on Saturday.”

But one thing is certain, it won’t be getting any easier for Torres to find the net.

Paraguay have conceded only one goal in this competition, in a 1-1 draw with then reigning champions Italy in their opening game.

But they have only scored three times, needing penalties to advance past Japan in their second round clash following a 0-0 stalemate.

However, star forward Roque Santa Cruz, who plays for Manchester City in England, says it is unfair to judge the team’s strikers just on these last four matches.

“Our team is set up so we can press very early and high up the pitch so because of that we (strikers) do a lot of work defensively,” he said.

“Even if we play three strikers we know the guys playing either side will make a lot of sacrifices and get back to win back the ball early so we can get pressure on other teams.

“It’s been working fantastically so far. The chances are there so if we haven’t scored it’s not that we haven’t continued on from qualification where we were scoring for fun in the national team for four years.

“Now we’re not doing it but it’s just a matter of putting it in the net and now is the right moment to do so.”

KEY TO THE MATCH

Paraguay’s attack has been shot-shy and ineffective so far. They failed to score against either New Zealand or Japan but they will most likely have to find the net against the talented Spaniards. Spain will no doubt enjoy a lot of possession and have been looking increasingly threatening up front as the tournament progresses, so Paraguay will not be able to bank on holding out at the back. They will have to take more risks going forward and the pressure is on Roque Santa Cruz, Lucas Barrios and Nelson Valdez, none of whom have scored yet, to deliver the goods.