Tweet
1. Spain Pk France +105
2. Spain vs. France over 2 +111
I really haven’t seen one thing to like about the French in this tournament. They struggled in their first two games and had an average effort against Togo in that 2-0 win to get them to this point in the tournament. While their offense seemed to run a little bit quicker paced without Zidane in the lineup, they still looked a tad disorganized on the attack. Trezeguet didn’t do much and poor Ribery couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. They are a team showing their age and their lack of cohesiveness in this tournament has really showed. One need only look at their ho-hum draws with the Swiss and South Korea in their first two games. Then, they were played hard by a Togo team that they should have won more convincingly over. I’m not impressed.
Spain on the other hand has showed that they are a force to be reckoned with in this tournament. They did struggle against Saudi Arabia a bit but remember, that was a second string team on the field for the most part. Man for man, this Spanish team has looked much more impressive, creative and more importantly, organized when compared to the French. I can see the Spanish capitalizing on those older French legs and trying to set the pace of this game. They should be able to wear down the French with their speed and energy. This is a very confident side at the moment.
Here’s what I’m sick of. I’m sick of teams going into their elimination games lacking the confidence to get the job done choosing instead to sit back, defend and hope for the best. England showed that lack of confidence to a degree when they opted for a 5 man midfield and now French coach Dominique has said in his press conference that he’ll wait until the Spaniards release their line-up before he makes his. If you’re confident, then you put your best formation out there for the given game. Italy for example went out with Toni, Gilardino and Del Piero in Totti’s place against Australia. You could tell they went out with an attack-minded game plan and it created a few good quality scoring chances. Of course, the red card early in the second half killed that plan. Now, the French are contemplating reverting back to Henry in the lone striker role along with 5 midfielders when as anyone could tell, they created more with the two strikers up front. I really don’t think that French coach Dominique really knows what he wants to do yet or if he’s got the personnel to do it. That tells me that Dominique is not confident in his side’s form. On the other end, Spain knows what they are going to do, they look more prepared and are not going to change their game for anyone. That confidence has showed so far on the field.
Now, we’ve seen a plethora of second round games go under the total and while that might continue, I can’t see it happening in this match. The reason is simple. Spain has adopted a 4-3-3 formation which is more attack friendly. The Spaniards like to move the ball quickly and with both teams contrasting styles at play here, I can see at least 2 goals scored in this match. Usually, we see lower scoring games when the two sides play similar to each other in that they almost cancel each other out. However, with contrasting styles, you often get a better flowing game. I’ve very gun shy about laying anything more than 2.5 goals at this stage of the tournament, especially with the way my totals have been killing me…however, I think that Spain will get out front here forcing the French to open the game up a little bit.
In the end, the Spaniards have the better form here and should take care of a French team that looks past their prime.
2. Spain vs. France over 2 +111
I really haven’t seen one thing to like about the French in this tournament. They struggled in their first two games and had an average effort against Togo in that 2-0 win to get them to this point in the tournament. While their offense seemed to run a little bit quicker paced without Zidane in the lineup, they still looked a tad disorganized on the attack. Trezeguet didn’t do much and poor Ribery couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. They are a team showing their age and their lack of cohesiveness in this tournament has really showed. One need only look at their ho-hum draws with the Swiss and South Korea in their first two games. Then, they were played hard by a Togo team that they should have won more convincingly over. I’m not impressed.
Spain on the other hand has showed that they are a force to be reckoned with in this tournament. They did struggle against Saudi Arabia a bit but remember, that was a second string team on the field for the most part. Man for man, this Spanish team has looked much more impressive, creative and more importantly, organized when compared to the French. I can see the Spanish capitalizing on those older French legs and trying to set the pace of this game. They should be able to wear down the French with their speed and energy. This is a very confident side at the moment.
Here’s what I’m sick of. I’m sick of teams going into their elimination games lacking the confidence to get the job done choosing instead to sit back, defend and hope for the best. England showed that lack of confidence to a degree when they opted for a 5 man midfield and now French coach Dominique has said in his press conference that he’ll wait until the Spaniards release their line-up before he makes his. If you’re confident, then you put your best formation out there for the given game. Italy for example went out with Toni, Gilardino and Del Piero in Totti’s place against Australia. You could tell they went out with an attack-minded game plan and it created a few good quality scoring chances. Of course, the red card early in the second half killed that plan. Now, the French are contemplating reverting back to Henry in the lone striker role along with 5 midfielders when as anyone could tell, they created more with the two strikers up front. I really don’t think that French coach Dominique really knows what he wants to do yet or if he’s got the personnel to do it. That tells me that Dominique is not confident in his side’s form. On the other end, Spain knows what they are going to do, they look more prepared and are not going to change their game for anyone. That confidence has showed so far on the field.
Now, we’ve seen a plethora of second round games go under the total and while that might continue, I can’t see it happening in this match. The reason is simple. Spain has adopted a 4-3-3 formation which is more attack friendly. The Spaniards like to move the ball quickly and with both teams contrasting styles at play here, I can see at least 2 goals scored in this match. Usually, we see lower scoring games when the two sides play similar to each other in that they almost cancel each other out. However, with contrasting styles, you often get a better flowing game. I’ve very gun shy about laying anything more than 2.5 goals at this stage of the tournament, especially with the way my totals have been killing me…however, I think that Spain will get out front here forcing the French to open the game up a little bit.
In the end, the Spaniards have the better form here and should take care of a French team that looks past their prime.