Tahiti coach Eddy Etaeta believes Spain won't want to humiliate his side with an avalanche of goals in their Confederations Cup meeting on Thursday.
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Etaeta's team from the South Pacific have an unlikely encounter with the world and European champions. in the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro in Group B of the tournament.
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"Everybody says Spain will score a lot of goals against us but I don't think so," Etaeta told said on Tuesday, the day after side began their tournament with a 6-1 defeat to Nigeria in Belo Horizonte.
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"I don't think Spain will want to score a lot of goals. I know (Spain coach) Vicente Del Bosque. He is a person with a lot of humility and respect. He won't say to his players, 'go and play, play against Tahiti and score a lot of goals.' I don't think so.
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"It is not the objective for Spain to score a lot of goals against Tahiti. I think Spain, world champions, respect us."
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All but one of the Tahitian squad are amateurs and eight are unemployed, a vast cry from the world- class players of Barcelona, Real Madrid and other top European clubs they will be trying to contain on Thursday.
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The Tahiti team has no sponsors and their players are not being paid, although the federation is compensating employers for the absence from work.
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Those lucky enough to have a job are earning about 1000 dollars a month, media director Olivier Huc said.
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In comparison, Spain's Chelsea striker earns an estimated 20 million dollars a year including endorsements, according to Forbes.
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"They are asking me how they can get the shirts of the Spanish players. They are fans," he said.
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Tahiti are experiencing a major competition for the first time after surprisingly winning the Oceania championship. They are already out of contention for a place at the World Cup in Brazil next year.
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"This morning when I saw the statistics of the game last night we had 31 per cent possession. I saw that Uruguay against Spain had only 28 per cent possession," Etaeta said.
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"I think it is a good performance for us. But Spain on Thursday will have 98 per cent possession."
For Nigeria to beat them 6 goals to 1, they should expect like 12 goals from a country like Spain....