Spain v France, Quarter Final, Build up and Match Thread

[Duty281]

Spain v France (Saturday 23rd June, 19:45 KO, ITV 1)

The holders Spain topped Group C with 7 points with two victories over Croatia and Ireland and a draw against Italy. Once again, Spain have kept a tight defence and have conceded the lowest amount of goals in the tournament so far and have also scored the most. Their reward is a game against the French who have been quite inconsistent - a decent display against England saw them get a 1-1 draw, they then stepped it up for Ukraine and beat them 2-0 before being brought down to earth by losing 2-0 to Sweden. For the neutral, this is probably the best tie of the round. Winners will play Czech Republic/Portugal.

My prediction: Spain 1-1 France AET (France to win on pens)

[mystiroakey]

1-1 as well- spain in pens

[GSC]

Spain 2-0 France

Spain are basically a superior version of France

[azania]

2-1 France. Spain will have 60+% possession but lack a killer punch. Tika taka football without an end product. The reason why they have conceded the fewest goals is because of their possession. But its no good having all that possession in midfield.

France have more attacking options and can play bettwe on the break. With Benzema and Nasri, they have the ability to score from more areas.

[JamesLincs]

1-0 spain

[dancingweeman]

2-1 France. Spain will have 60+% possession but lack a killer punch. Tika taka football without an end product. The reason why they have conceded the fewest goals is because of their possession. But its no good having all that possession in midfield.

France have more attacking options and can play bettwe on the break. With Benzema and Nasri, they have the ability to score from more areas.

I think as well as conceding the fewest, they've also scored the most. I know 4 of them came against Ireland, but still...

[whocares]

2-1 France. Spain will have 60+% possession but lack a killer punch. Tika taka football without an end product. The reason why they have conceded the fewest goals is because of their possession. But its no good having all that possession in midfield.

France have more attacking options and can play bettwe on the break. With Benzema and Nasri, they have the ability to score from more areas.

I think as well as conceding the fewest, they've also scored the most. I know 4 of them came against Ireland, but still...

I agree that currently France is poor man's spain : they try to keep the possesion and play some fancy passing aroudn the midfield but as seen against Sweden they are rubbish when it comes to create proper danger. if anything they would need to play with a real centre-forward as Benzema position is too low as he tries to combine with his midfielders as opppose to keeping the centre backs busy.

[Postie]

Can't see past a Spain win.

If France had topped the group and had some momentum then maybes.But they got beat by Sweden fair n square and apparently were bickering after the game ( some players not pulling their weight).

Historically, once their team spirit goes, so do their performances.I'd expect Spain to push on now and win, I'll go for 3-1 Spain.

[Leff]

Spain has never beaten France in a tournament. That streak is likely to end in a few hours.

France has a dilemma - strengthen defence by exchanging an offensive midfielder with a defender to blunt the domination Spain shows in the midfield, or hope to win by an all-out attack? Nasri's place in the starting line-up is a bit doubtful.

[Crimey]

They looked poor against Sweden because they used two defensive midfielders in M'Vila and Alou Diarra. I don't think they should against Spain as it is vital that any time they get on the ball is used, unlike against England, so that means having players that can quickly transition from defence into attack.

I'd play

Benzema
Ribery Nasri Menez
M'Vila Cabaye

[Guest]

Apparently the French are at loggerheads with each other again which could be telling.

Spain 2-0 for me.

[Leff]

They looked poor against Sweden because they used two defensive midfielders in M'Vila and Alou Diarra. I don't think they should against Spain as it is vital that any time they get on the ball is used, unlike against England, so that means having players that can quickly transition from defence into attack.

I'd play

Benzema
Ribery Nasri Menez
M'Vila Cabaye

I am with you. Their best chance is when they charge forward quickly. Benzema hit 15 shots at the goal and not one went in. I think his time has come. He looked rather lonely in front, taking shots from not-so-good positions.

[Leff]

Apparently the French are at loggerheads with each other again which could be telling.

Spain 2-0 for me.

Unlike Germany and Italy, France is an unpredictable team. I am going with Spain 2-1.

[Crimey]

Spain have dropped Torres and replaced him with Fabregas.

Casillas

Arbeloa
Ramos
Pique
Alba

Busquets
Alonso
Xavi
Iniesta
Silva
Fabregas


France have made a few changes, Mexes is suspended. Ben Arfa, Diarra and Nasri are all dropped.

Lloris

Reveillere
Rami
Koscielny
Clichy

M'Vila
Cabaye
Malouda

Debuchy
Benzema
Ribery


France going defensive. Can't understand the selection of Malouda who has been awful for about 18 months and offers nothing to the French side, he's a passenger.

[JamesLincs]

with rumurs of infighting once again the french camp i cant see anything other than a spanish win

3-1

[mystiroakey]

draw today- cant see spain doing enough to score more than 1 goal;. and i can certainly see frnace getting a goal.

1-1

[The Special Juan]

Don't understand dropping Diarra. He's been immense.

[Duty281]

LINE-UPSSpain v France (19:45 BST)
Spain: Casillas, Arbeloa, Pique, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Alonso, Silva, Fabregas, Iniesta. Subs: Valdes, Albiol, Javi Martinez, Juanfran, Pedro, Torres, Negredo, Mata, Llorente, Santi Cazorla, Jesus Navas, Reina.

France: Lloris, Reveillere, Rami, Koscielny, Clichy, M'Vila, Debuchy, Cabaye, Malouda, Ribery, Benzema. Subs: Mandanda, Evra, Valbuena, Giroud, Nasri, Matuidi, Menez, Diarra, Martin, Ben Arfa, Carrasso.

Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)

Sticking with my 1-1.

[EnglishReign]

Never been more certain of a 2-1. To the Spanish, I think.

[Duty281]

But they're playing 4-6-0 again, so can only see Spain scoring 1. At least France have a striker.

[azania]

France win here. Spain playing without a recognised striker is a massive mistake.

[bretmeharty]

Due an upset in this tourny havent had one yet,

[JamesLincs]

assuming torres would start ive gone with either torres or and silva scoring in either a 2-0.3-0 or 3-1 win for spain

[bretmeharty]

Got 100 on france through by any means 2-1

[Crimey]

Due an upset in this tourny havent had one yet,

Denmark beating Netherlands was pretty big.

[JamesLincs]

sweden beating france, denmark beating holland and greece beating russia have imo, been upsets

[bretmeharty]

True ill give you that

[Duty281]

And that disgusting dive which could have reduced France to 10 men and put Spain a goal up has merely strengthened my resolve to say...Come on France! Same old Spaniards, always cheating.

[JamesLincs]

honestly not sure how people can find spain's passing boring

[Duty281]

Where was the French defence? Xabi Alonso had time to do his shopping before finishing that one!

[Crimey]

honestly not sure how people can find spain's passing boring

There's no excitement. I can appreciate the quality it's just not exciting at all.

I think France have come in to this tournament incredibly overrated.

[Leff]

Iniesta - Alba - Xabi Alonso finishing. How beautiful was that!

How could Alba be so precise aiming to Alonso's head!

[Leff]

Am I right that Spain is playing without a 'certified' forward?

[mystiroakey]

why the heck is this game boring me so much- people call this sexy football.. ffs- its dry.

come on france get the 1-1

[Leff]

Beautiful save by Casillas.

[mystiroakey]

i could fall asleep watching this..............................some one open my eyes

does anyone find this game good entertainment?

[mystiroakey]

spain drive me fking mad.

picture the seen- 8 passes and they go kind of forward they have a full midfield and a winger picks up the ball at the edge of the pen box, rather than everyone getting goal bound and the team trying to get a decent cross in or even a more intricite through ball they decide to all go back inside there own half and start the move again!!!!!!!

[Leff]

I do. I find this very entertaining. I love watching beautiful passes.

As for the header goal, I thought it was even better than Ronaldo's in his last. My wife is loving this too.

Lunch time for us.

[Duty281]

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. I nearly fell asleep towards the end of the 1st half. Come on France, I don't want a boring semi-final.

[Crimey]

The best headed goal of the tournament, and there's been 20 of them (!), was Andy Carroll's I think. Followed by Ronaldo's.

[mystiroakey]

i will admit though spain have schooled france abit- but i hoenstly think by only trying to keep possesion since the goal is gonna bite them back. 1-0 isnt enough v france.

i have this feeling the bestest,wetest dream for a spainish manager/fan or player would go like this.

spains opponents kick off- straight away get tackled by spain. spain then pass it about for the rest of the half and then score a gaol in the last second of the half after 1000 passes. second half they kick off and just keep the ball the whole time!! lol that would be impressive mind..haha

[Jennifer1984]

Spain are just strolling through this game. The French pose no attacking threat.

The Spaniards have got the goal they want and althought they'd like to score another goal (or two) they aren't going to bust a gut to get it if they think they can contain the French attack (whatever that is).

Being Devil's advocate, the Spaniards may well counter accusations of being boring by saying that their fans are certainly enjoying watching their team win, and it's not their job to entertain other countries supporters.

If Spain win 1 - 0 they will be in the semi finals. Job done.

.

[lorus59]

Do you guys realise how hard it is to keep possession like Spain do? It takes a lot of technical skill. How many players do you see receive a ball under pressure, control it and make a pass to a team mate? The reason they do it is because they can.

[lorus59]

Do you guys realise how hard it is to keep possession like Spain do? It takes a lot of technical skill. How many players do you see receive a ball under pressure, control it and make a pass to a team mate? The reason they do it is because they can.

[Crimey]

Do you guys realise how hard it is to keep possession like Spain do? It takes a lot of technical skill. How many players do you see receive a ball under pressure, control it and make a pass to a team mate? The reason they do it is because they can.

Nobody is criticising the effectiveness or technical quality required to play the way they do, in fact I said the opposite, but you can respect the level of skill involved while still being bored by it. The worst thing is the attitude so many people have that football fans must love the way Spain play. I find it excruciatingly boring, that's not me just trying to go against the grain, I'm just not entertained by hundreds of passes.

[mystiroakey]

jen its not really about countering an accusation
Its about winning for the fans-However there is nothing wrong with finding a style boring at all. nothing at all- it is what it is. But there isnt anything to counter- that isnt an argument!

Its just about opinions, however if every game of football was played like this- i wouldnt watch the game- I am being deadly serious on that

[Duty281]

Spain are just strolling through this game. The French pose no attacking threat.

The Spaniards have got the goal they want and althought they'd like to score another goal (or two) they aren't going to bust a gut to get it if they think they can contain the French attack (whatever that is).

Being Devil's advocate, the Spaniards may well counter accusations of being boring by saying that their fans are certainly enjoying watching their team win, and it's not their job to entertain other countries supporters.

If Spain win 1 - 0 they will be in the semi finals. Job done.

.

Are they though? They only brought 2000 fans, that's bad support for the World and European Champions.

[Crimey]

Benzema has looked awful all this tournament, seems afraid of getting into the box. For a striker who has scored over 20 goals last year he seems low on confidence, which is very odd.

[The Special Juan]

Spain think it's rugby

As a neutral fan this whole tournament, I think Spain do bore teams to death but they do what they have to do. Score then keep the ball off their opponents for the rest of the game. They do play a more entertaining game than Barcelona though, just. But Busquets is still a waste of oxygen no matter what team he plays in.

[Leff]

Spain has defended well in this game. Ramos and Pique have made Ribery and Benzema look utterly impotent.

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