The European World Cup qualifiers commenced last Friday. Top guns England, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands are now eying six points ahead of Tuesday's round of fixtures. For world champions Spain, however, the campaign only starts this week. A maximum of three points are at stake for La Furia Roja on September 11.
“The players know that we are starting a tough qualification phase, where we cannot afford to be complacent because a mistake could be a problem,” Vicente del Bosque declared according to AS this week.
Vicente Del Bosque’s men engaged in an international friendly match against Saudi Arabia last Friday. La Furia Roja came out 5-0 victors with striker Fernando Torres getting his 100th international cap for his country’s senior national team.
Santi Cazorla opened the deadlock before Pedro Rodriguez, Xavi and David Villa all got on target. “No matter who plays, the team does well,” goal scorer Xavi Hernandez told the press last weekend. Do not count on Spain to tone down their tempo against Georgia on Tuesday.
The Spaniards will be hoping to maintain this form when they meet Georgia away from home on September 11. “The World Cup does not start in 2014, but now, here against Georgia in Tbilisi,” coach Vicente del Bosque told AS on Monday.
Watch Iker Casillas and company kick off their European World Cup qualifying campaign on Sportsnet One in Canada. Follow the match on ESPN Deportes or ESPN3 at 13:30 EST in USA. If you live in Bahamas or Trinidad and Tobago, tune in to ESPN 2 Caribbean. Georgia vs Spain will also air on Al Jazeera Sports +2, Sport TV4, Foot+, Sports +5 and 1TV in other parts of the world.
