Two of the most successful European teams in recent times; Spain and France will go head to head tonight in the quarter finals battle of the European Championship for a place in the last four.
Spain is the current world and European champions and the favourite to win a third consecutive international tournament while France won the World Cup in 1998 and two years later won the European championship.
These two sides are no strangers to each other as France knocked out Spain in the 2006 World Cup in the second round. In their last three meetings, Spain won twice even though the victories were in friendly games.
Spain started the tournament on a slow note playing a one all draw with Italy before running riot against Ireland in a 4-0 rout. In their last game against Croatia, the champions were unconvincing as they laboured to a lone goal victory. After the Croatia game, questions were asked if Spain can really retain the title. They were clearly complacent and played with little urgency.
They struggled to break down a disciplined Croatian side and for them to have any hope of retaining the title they need to know how to increase the tempo of their game. The strength of Spain is their ability to hold on to possession as it is guaranteed that the Spanish always have at least 70 percent of ball possession in every game but they need to at least find a plan B.
The need to start shooting from outside the box as opposed to always waiting for the perfect chance to score mesmerising their opponents with passes has shown that against well disciplined sides it is going to be a problem for the defending champions.
In their first game against the Italians, Vicente Del Bosque surprised everybody by playing a 4-6-0 formation leaving recognised strikers like Torres, Ilorente and Negredo on the bench. In the second match, he played Torres up front and the striker scored two well taken goals.
Spain may go for a 4-5-1 formation against the French with Alonso, Xavi, Busquet, Iniesta and Silva in midfield while Torres will play the lone striker’s role. France is definitely going to plan to defend and counter attack because that’s the best way they can defeat Spain, so the Champions must be wary of a counter attack and their full backs Jordi Alba and Alberloa must be disciplined and stick to their defensive duties.
The Spaniards are the favourites to beat France and progress but their coach del Bosque is not taking the French threat lightly, he said: “We know that they are on a similar level to us and it will be a difficult game. France have made a lot of progress (since the 2010 World Cup),
“They have made some important changes and have great players such as Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Samir Nasri, Florent Malouda and Franck Ribery. This is a really big game, and we have all been looking forward to it. We will have time to prepare for the match and think of the best line-up.”
France saw their 23 match unbeaten run come to end in their last game as Sweden defeated them 2-0. It was Sweden’s first victory over France since 1969. And may come to play in today’s game either for or against them. France is considered one of the outsiders to win the Euros but have not been convincing so far. They qualified with just four points in the group.
They? were the least impressive team to make it to the quarter finals and they will have their hands full against the defending champions. But on their day, the French are more than capable of matching the Spaniards, they will probably go for a double pivot of M’vila and Diara with Ribery, Cabaye and Menez in midfield supporting Benzema and Nasri up front.
Benzema is coming off a good season with Real Madrid where he scored 21 goals in 34 games but he has yet to find the back of the net for France in this championship. He will come up against teammates Sergio Ramos and will be hoping on putting a goal past Cassillas his club teammate.
For France to win, Benzema needs to put on a performance of his life in this game. He needs to replicate his club form for country for France to have any chance of progressing. Man City midfielder Sami Nasir has had a good tournament so far playing arguably one of his best games for France against England and more of that performance is expected today. France is going to have little of the ball but must utilise their chances when they get them.
The midfielders must close down Spain midfielders giving them little chance to pass the ball. Diara and M’vila must close down the spaces. They are going to depend solely on counter attack to win this game. Another player that needs to step up his game today is Franck Ribery, regarded as one of the best wingers in the game. The team needs an inspired performance from him.
France striker Benzema insists Spain is the favourite in this tie. He said: “Against Spain, who are a team that come to play, we will have more space. But we should not kid ourselves. Spain will be favourites; they are one of the best teams in the world.
The belief and the trust is that another is still there’’. His teammate Matheu Debauchy thinks differently and believes his team can knock out the defending champions, he said, “I’m sure we can beat Spain. They are a great team with great players.
The key will be taking the ball from them, which obviously will not be easy, because they are best in the world to keep it, so the key is to stay calm and take advantage of the spaces they leave for us.”