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Despite their enviable back line composed of top players like Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, and Sergio Ramos, Spain’s defense surely needs to be interrogated. Last Sunday, la Furia Roja’s winning record was about to end after Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas conceded twice. But Athletic Bilbao’s Llorente scored a late goal to seal his side’s 3-2 hard-fought victory against Saudi Arabia.
The Spanish looked breakable throughout the game and their opponents on the day might have felt a little disappointed to have lost out in the end. Real Madrid’s Alvaro Arbeloa explained Spain’s patchiness against Saudi Arabia and dismissed comparisons and analysis between the form that his side will show at the World Cup and how it currently is.
He declared:
“It was a week with a lot of training and high workload. We lacked spark and many things. However, we should not worry because these are warm-up games. What is important is to be ready for the World Cup.”
Vicente Del Bosque may use Spain’s friendly match against Korea Republic to try out different tactics and help his regular players to adapt to the style of play should names like Jesus Navas and Pedro get to feature as well. Meanwhile, after disappointedly losing 1-0 to Belarus in their most recent friendly match, the Asians will take Thursday’s encounter as an opportunity to assess their chances against Spain’s South American rivals Argentina. Korea Republic have been grouped with Diego Maradona’s Albicelestes in Group B whom they’ll face on Match-day 2 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
