Spain To Keep Faith In Style Despite Doubts

[Folami David]

Spain may be the reigning European and world champions, but they will arrive in Paris for Tuesday's crucial World Cup qualifier against France with more than a few nagging doubts.
.
Friday's 1-1 draw with Group I's bottom side Finland, coupled with a 3-1 win for France against Georgia, left them two points adrift of Didier Deschamps' men in the section.
.
It may be a little soon to start panicking, but Spain can ill afford to lose at the Stade de France – do so and they will be five points off top spot with just one automatic berth at next year's finals in Brazil up for grabs.
.
Indeed, some in Spain are even beginning to entertain the possibility that a defeat on Tuesday could lead to them missing out on a play-off place.
.
Only the eight best runners-up will get a second chance to qualify in the two-legged play-offs, with the poorest performing runner-up missing out.
.
Such a scenario seems highly unlikely, but it is no exaggeration to say that things have not been this bad for Spain in a long time.
.
Having won three consecutive major international tournaments, Spain have become accustomed to winning, so failing to beat opponents as limited as Finland calls into question the methods that have worked so well in recent years.
.
Spain utterly dominated possession against the Finns at Gijon, with even their central defensive pairing of Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos spending most of the evening in the opposition half of the field.
.
But they lacked the imagination and the width required to break down the visitors' defensive wall, and were too often restricted to shots from long range.
.
Coach Vicente Del Bosque tried several permutations in attack, from Cesc Fabregas in the role of a false nine, to Cesc and David Villa together and the introductions of burly Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo and Chelsea's Juan Mata.
.
They couldn't kill the game off after Ramos' headed opener early in the second half and were made to pay when Teemu Pukki equalised late on.
.
Following last October's 1-1 draw with France in Madrid, Spain have now gone two successive competitive home games without winning for the first time since the 1982 World Cup finals, a statistic that conjures memories of older, far less glorious times.
.
Source: supersport.com.

[Shola Sholaz]

With the callibre of players Spain has there should be no problem. I actually tip them to come out victorious in that game. I'm looking forward to it