If Spain finish 2nd in Group H, and they face Brazil, who will win?

CorkMan

I personally it would be bad news for Brazil. Switzerland were a highly defensive side who scrapped a win against a shabby Spain. Brazil never sit back and defend so Spain and Brazil would be against each other.

Would be very interesting.

Reganio 2

Brazil would win, Spain arent all they are cracked up to be and the Brzilian flair coupled with Dunga's defensive tactics, Brazil will romp home.

CorkMan

I think Torres will be firing home by then and if Iniesta isn't up to par Fabregas will replace him. It would be a different Spain for certain.

gimmick

What ifZ BrazilZ finish second? What if neither profress?

parker kent

Brazil. I picked that particular outcome in the spreadsheet doing the rounds before the tournament started. Granted I had Spain down to draw today...but I'm sticking to my guns and saying Brazil!

Yakult

Probably brazil. Spains defence is hit or miss.

newballsplease

IF THIS IF THAT IF IF IF......................

let it happen first...then start a thread imo.

steelcityblues

If you remember France 98, then don't assume Spain will get out of the group!

Dont be at yourself

Huge amount of pressure on Spain now. Today's result will have smashed the confidence they've built up over the last 40 games. The biggest problem Spain had was their mentality, their doubts that they were good enough to win major tournaments. With this defeat coming in their first game, they'll have a job picking themselves up.

Chile - Spain on the final match day could be huge. Chile gave a good account of themselves today and could give an underperforming Spain a run for their money.

Ahh, the World Cup. I love it!

DazMarz

Remember the 2002 World Cup when France (the defending World-Champions France) failed to progress from the group, failing to find the net once.

That French side were not utterly terrible (despite only claiming 1 point from 9), but also were desperately unlucky; shots skimming wide, hitting the woodwork non-stop, etc.

Could the same thing happen to Spain? See Xabi Alonso's rocket hitting the bar today...

I hope it doesn't happen, but............

rossie1977

if spain meet brazil at any time in this wc the outcome will be the same, a brazil win, brazil would just bully spain into submission, they would nullify xavis impact from the start, villa and torres would be starved of possession

lucio is the best defender on earth atm he would relish going against villa and a half-fit torres

Bounty Hunter

any bookies droping the odds on Spain, could be worth a bet if so imo?

Shanotheslayer

Im sticking to Spain, through and through:)

yahoo_moe

gimmick wrote: »

What ifZ BrazilZ finish second? What if neither profress?

In fairness, that's clearly not what the OP is asking. It's easily ignored if you're not interested.

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

Today's result will have smashed the confidence they've built up over the last 40 games.

Whoah there... seriously doubt that.

_Bella_

I think Spain would win. Especially if Kaka plays the way he did last night

PiE

Who will win? Argentina, Germany, Netherlands (and any other team with a serious chance of taking the trophy) will all be winners, as a mmmajor favourite will be out.

If my aunty had balls she'd be my uncle.



EDIT she does have balls

jesus_thats_gre

Brazil.

Spain have a suspect defence and don't have a quality pacey defensive midfielder to protect/support the defence.

flahavaj

If/whenever it happens it'll be fascinating.

The big questions for me whether Gilberto Silva has the legs to stay with Xavi, Iniesta et al and whether Spain have the width to stretch teams peoperly. Xabi Alonso seems a bit unnecessary to me in a midfield containing Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta.

Liam O

Does it go by goal difference or head to head if 2 teams finish level on points? Odds on Chile to get out of the group ahead of the swiss look tasty...

Kev_ps3

After watching todays performance I would go for Brazil.

jesus_thats_gre

flahavaj wrote: »

If/whenever it happens it'll be fascinating.

The big questions for me whether Gilberto Silva has the legs to stay with Xavi, Iniesta et al and whether Spain have the width to stretch teams peoperly. Xabi Alonso seems a bit unnecessary to me in a midfield containing Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta.

Who would they play if they dropped Xavi deeper to replace Alonso? Guess they could go with Villa and Torres up top but I think they look better playing a 4-2-3-1.

flahavaj

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Who would they play if they dropped Xavi deeper to replace Alonso? Guess they could go with Villa and Torres up top but I think they look better playing a 4-2-3-1.

I too like the 4-2-3-1.

I like:

---

Villa

---

Silva

---

Iniesta

---

Navas

---

Xavi

---

Busquets

Well balanced, lots of width. Lethal.

They were a bit too narrow today and Navas made a big difference when he came on. As I said whats the point of xabi Alonso when you already have Busquets and Xavi.

Reganio 2

No way should Biscuits be ahead of Alonso, he is a horribly horribly average player.

flahavaj

Reganio 2 wrote: »

No way should Biscuits be ahead of Alonso, he is a horribly horribly average player.

Breaks up play better than Alonso though. And having Xavi kinda negates the need for his great pasing ability. They don't need Alonso IMO.

SlickRic

flahavaj wrote: »

Breaks up play better than Alonso though. And having Xavi kinda negates the need for his great pasing ability. They don't need Alonso IMO.

Alonso is a fine defensive player.

Busquets, ok, you get a bit more of the ugly stuff, but far less passing ability and link-up play.

Alonso, and not Busquets thanks. he gives them that extra little dimension. Xavi and Iniesta do the intricate stuff, while Alonso will spread the play, or get the ball foward directly and accurately.

Mister men

All depends if Torres is fully fit or not. He was horrible when he came on today. I've seen him like that after injuries at Liverpool many times and he takes 3-4 matches to get up to speed and Spain need him 100% for the Chile game. If i was a betting man i'd say Spain will scrap through into the second round and get beat by Brazil.

flahavaj

SlickRic wrote: »

Alonso is a fine defensive player.

Busquets, ok, you get a bit more of the ugly stuff, but far less passing ability and link-up play.

Alonso, and not Busquets thanks. he gives them that extra little dimension. Xavi and Iniesta do the intricate stuff, while Alonso will spread the play, or get the ball foward directly and accurately.

Its a toss up really tbh, I can't give a hugely compelling argument why Busquets would be that much better an option than Xabi. Having either Alonso or Busquets won't make or break them as much as having both in the midfield could though IMO.

rossie1977

Reganio 2 wrote: »

No way should Biscuits be ahead of Alonso, he is a horribly horribly average player.

alonso offers much more than busquets, from passing ability to dead ball ability to scoring, alonso has more goals for his country than xavi, iniesta, silva or fabregas

CorkMan

Mister men wrote: »

All depends if Torres is fully fit or not. He was horrible when he came on today. I've seen him like that after injuries at Liverpool many times and he takes 3-4 matches to get up to speed and Spain need him 100% for the Chile game. If i was a betting man i'd say Spain will scrap through into the second round and get beat by Brazil.

Thing is David Villa was top scorer at Euro 2008, so I think he'll score some goals to get Spain farther than the 2nd round.

unkel

The bookies still have Spain 5/1 to become world champions :eek:

Worst investment ever. I reckon they won't make it out of the group after seeing yesterdays match.

Shanotheslayer

Sick of people writing of teams after one bad preformance, it's pathetic.

England play bad... Ah no chance yadayada
Spain play bad ... Ah no chance yadayada

Germany play a sh!te team that make germany look great ... There gonna win it!


Even my RL mates are doing it.


Spain still have a great chance of going through. They lost 2games in 40+ I think the stat was and all of a sudden they have no chance of winning a WC?



The pressure got to them, they'll come back from it.

But how people are writing them off to qualify is beyond me.


/Rant

kinaldo

Not sure how Spain managed to lose but if you're gonna lose a game in the WC it's probably better to lose it in the group stage with two games left to rectify things, rather than have this happen in the second round or QF as traditionally happens to them.

As for playing Brazil... the greatest Spanish team ever against a poor Brazilian side leads me to only one conclusion.

People are placing too much emphasis on history. If they meet early then Brazil will probably go out tamely like they did 4 years ago against France when they had a much more talented squad.

celticbest

eh mmmmmm, BRAZIL.

They better if this situation comes up as I've got them in the work draw