Reflections : Spain vs. Argentina Friendly

At this time we should perhaps be most interested in the world cup playoffs as well as the last of the qualifiers which are due this weekend. However in most of these playoffs and qualifiers, one team seems better placed or considerably stronger than the other. So it's not motivating enough for this writer to analyze them at this point in time. Of course after the first leg, some of the playoffs could throw up interesting scenarios which may make this writer want to analyze them but right now his main interest lies somewhere else. And that is with the mouth watering friendly between Spain and Argentina. Two very strong teams who are also expected to play really beautiful football. Let us first analyze each team individually. After all this is only a friendly and our larger interest lies in being able to measure the world cup prospects of these teams using among other things their performance in this friendly.

Ask anyone today - a fan or a pundit - they will all put Spain among the top favorites for WC 2010. Some say they are second to Brazil while for others they are the top favorite. It's not that this writer does not look up to Spain as a national team and is not impressed by their showings or does not feel that their coach has done a great job. It's just that he cannot help but have a few doubts - doubts which not many other people find worth worrying about and which have been mostly easily papered due to the streak of results obtained by this team. Yet when push comes to shove does Spain have the requisite physical and mental toughness to really win a match which is not really a match any more but a battle? Of course they won Euro 2008 and did so in some style. Fans all over the world felt that for once the best team playing the best football had won such a major tournament. It was a victory for football. However there was also a key element of physical and mental toughness in this team - a certain Marcos Senna. Unfortunately Senna is now 33 years old. And what horrifies this writer most is that there has been no attempt to find a like for like replacement or even an understudy for him. Yes Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets are used but both are essentially possession players rather than battlers. This writer feels that without Senna at his best on the pitch, Spain look a little light weight when compared to the other physically and mentally tough teams. The other major problem is Fernando Torres. Oh, how can Torres be a problem? He should be a blessing. Is this writer trying to say that Torres is not one of the best strikers in the world? Certainly not - if anything this writer is also among the many fans of El Nino. Yet how do you explain that Torres did not score a single goal in the entire WC 2010 qualification campaign. This is the same Torres we are talking about who for Liverpool is like a one chance one goal man. In the views of this writer, David Villa and Torres are just not compatible. While Villa fits exactly into the way Spain play, Torres is often left out. This writer feels that Spain would be better playing a 4-2-3-1 or any kind of 4-5-1 with the in form Cesc Fabregas getting the nod instead of Torres. However can Del Bosque really put Torres on the bench? This last statement actually leads to two other problems that should be mentioned here. Spain have too many world class attacking players and it's hard for even one of them to accept a place on the bench. Add to that the fact that even though Del Bosque is a great coach, there have been doubts as to how good a tactician he is. That was the reason Real Madrid gave when they surprisingly fired him after a title winning campaign in 2003. Can Del Bosque really match wits against the likes of Fabio Capello and Guus Hiddink? This writer is not so sure.

Now let's come to Argentina. They made a real mess of the qualification campaign but finally came out of it. Their main strengths are the extraordinary individual qualities of several of their players and the fighting spirit that they showed in their last few matches which was reminiscent of the tough as nails but unbearably ugly Argentina team of WC 1990. That's where the positives end and the negatives begin. No major team today has a more unsettled starting 11 than Argentina. The defense has indeed shown signs of improvement but the attacking play often looks pedestrian. It seems that they are still in a state of constant experimentation - hardly a desirable state to be in when the world cup is little more than 6 months away. And with the kind of talent at their disposal, they are just not playing the way their innumerable fans all around the world ( which includes this writer ) long to see them play.

So what about the match between the two? Well Spain do look better placed at the moment. They also have home advantage. Yet hardly anyone would rule out the possibility of one or more of Argentina's brilliant individuals deciding the match in their favor.