Date : 30-06-2010
Game Start Time : 00:30
FIFA World Cup 2010
Venue: Cape Town
The Round of 16 will close with the match between Spain and Portugal and open encounter involving Paraguay and Japan. Even with the opening game falter versus Switzerland, the European champions Spain was able to muscle their way through to the knockout stage and was able to finish top of their group in the course. They now come across a Portugal team in their trail who was able to pass a severe test of surviving a tough fight alongside Côte d’Ivoire and Brazil. This was the final 16 that a lot of people expected and coaches Vicente del Bosque and Carlos Queiroz should have had a lot of time to plan for the downfall of the other teams.In comparison, very few people could have predicted Italy’s failure in Group F, where Paraguay finished on top even without the service of their leading scorer Salvador Cabanas in qualifying. Los Guaraníes now has to face the Japanese team that is aiming to reach unfamiliar games at this level by winning the second last-16 between South American and Asian competitor at the World Cup, where Uruguay winning past Korea Republic 2-1.
The big game will feature the match between Spain-Portugal. History will pick on Span to dominance, with the European champions winning over Portugal three times and drawing only once in four World Cup qualifiers. The 32 games overall A Selecção das Quinas have won a mere five times, while loosing 15 and having 12 draws.
Now they must try to reverse that development against one of the strongest line-ups of Spain, although their Iberian rivals began to show vulnerability with their fluid play possibly being decoded by the enemy coaches. Del Bosque made some sacrifices on his team’s keenness for the stunning for support of a more direct line of attack, as shown in their 2-1 win over Chile, but the opposition Queiroz, is confident of discovering an answer. His team emerged victorious from the strongest section in the group phase claiming to score seven goals and not conceding any and will continue with their ironclad defense and Cristiano Ronaldo star forward to make the big difference.
The Real Madrid star hassle defenders and makes an opening space for his team mates and he will enjoy matching up against fellow Liga stars like David Villa. Whatever happens, expect a lot of teasing about this match.
As for Okada, the 53-year-old clever tactician, knows his team will not win a physical contest but likes them to play at pace with passes going into the space behind defenders and full-backs coming close to help exploit the strength of the players. Expect different moves from two coaches, with one set to elevate his profile by getting into the last eight.
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