World Cup Preview – Brazil & Spain

This guest post was written by Adrian Bacariza

As the world cup draw near I thought i would give a run down on the teams, favorites and players to watch.

Lets start with the favorites:

The two media favorites coming into this world are Brazil and Spain. Both teams qualified with out problems.

Brazil:

This is not your typical Brazil team, this is a much better defensive team than you are used to seeing from them. Dunga is the most defensive player and coach Brazil has ever had. They still have some of the typical Brazilian flair but its not as abundant as it has in the past. Most of that flair comes from two key players Kaka and Robinho. Both players had rough years last year for there respecting club teams. Kaka had trouble adjusting to the Spanish league giant Real Madrid. Robinho has not played well since he left Spain to go to Manchester City, so much so that they sent him back to Brazil to see if he could pick up his game. That being said I believe both these guys are going to have break out world cups.

There are three other players that i believe people need to watch out for. First is Maicon in my opinion he is the best right back in the world right now. He is very good going forward and is extremely good on the defensive side as well. The next one is Dani Alves his natural position is also right back but i believe Dunga will use him in the right mid just to have his incredible speed and attacking presence on the field. And last is Luis Fabiano anyone that has watched Seville play in La Liga knows that if you give this great finisher space you will end up pick the ball out of the back of the net. He is not as flashy as some of Brazil’s previous strikers such as Ronaldo but he is a pure finisher and can hurt you if you give him space.

Spain:
This is the deepest team in the cup. They are the current European champs and have only lost one game in the last 35 dating back to before the start of Euro 2008. They have several key players among them Iker Casillas who is one of, if not the best keeper in the world. Xavi and Inesta are the creative force behind Barcelona’s success in resent years and Xavi is arguable the best midfielder in the world right now. He has the ability to pick teams apart and squeeze the ball into spaces that seem impossible. Spain’s attacking duo of Torres and Villa is one of the best behind only the attacking force that Argentina has, the big difference between these two sides is the creativity and ball movement that Spain’s midfield has. Spain also has one of the best defenses in the cup Sergio Ramos, Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique are the core of that D. They are with out question three of the most talented defenders in the world right now.

The break out player for this team in my opinion is going to be Jesus Navas the Sevilla right mid is new to this squad and people that haven’t watched La Liga will be surprised at his abilities. He is ridiculously fast and his crossing ability and scoring from the right side make him extremely dangers. He has the ability to take over games and control the pass through the wings. Spain has under achieved in previous world cups and they have a reputation for choking in the past. This team how ever is the most experienced and talented in Spanish history.