Mata confident with depleted Spain side

Winger Juan Mata is confident Spain will still be a force to be reckoned with against Bosnia-Herzegovina even though the European champions will be missing a host of first-choice stars as they bid to complete a perfect qualifying campaign.

Spain go into the match in Zenica looking to make it 10 wins out of 10 in Group Five, but it promises to be a tough task for Vicente del Bosque’s men because as well as facing the second-placed team in the pool, they are also missing some key players.

Prolific hitman David Villa, who is his side’s leading scorer in qualifying with seven goals, is again missing though injury, while five other players have dropped out of the squad since Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Armenia.

Midfield schemer Xavi, along with Carlos Marchena and Dani Guiza, are injured, Carles Puyol is suspended and Cesc Fabregas will miss the game due to personal reasons.

On top of that, Fernando Torres and Andres Iniesta are both set to be rested due to knocks picked up during the Armenia game, although both players have remained with the squad.

The absentees means Del Bosque may have to do some experimenting, but whatever side the former Real Madrid coach puts out should be good enough to win, according to Mata.

“It’s true that important players are missing like Puyol, Xavi, Cesc and Villa, but this national team has a great group of players and whoever goes out onto the pitch will not let the coach down,” said the Valencia youngster, who has scored in both of Spain’s last two matches, including the winner against Armenia.

“We all know we have the chance of achieving a new record with winning all the games in qualifying and that’s our objective in Bosnia. It will not be an easy game but we we want to prolong our good run of form.”

Among the players who did not start against Armenia and could come in for tomorrow’s match are Xabi Alonso, Gerard Pique, David Silva, Albert Riera and captain Iker Casillas, who will make his 99th appearance for Spain if he takes the field.

Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo could also make his first start having made his international debut as a second-half replacement for Torres at the weekend.

With Spain having already qualified for the World Cup finals and Bosnia-Herzegovina assured of finishing second and taking part in the play-offs, there is little resting on tomorrow’s match for either side.

Nevertheless, Bosnia-Herzegovina midfielder Miralem Pjanic is looking forward to taking on the Spanish safe in the knowledge their hopes of a first World Cup finals appearance are still alive following their 2-0 win over Estonia.

“Before going to Estonia we had only one objective – to win. We couldn’t allow ourselves the possibility of needing a win against Spain, who are the best national team in the world,” he said.

“But with the triumph in Estonia we have shown that we have quality and now we have this great pleasure of playing against the Spanish.”