Spain looks for World Cup breakthrough

Spain looks for World Cup breakthrough

Spain will head into the world Cup in South Africa confident that the team's recent success will the spur a long awaited breakthrough on the international stage.

The European champions travel to the tournament after a successful run that includes a 2008 European Championship victory that snapped a 44-year drought in major championships.

"there is a lot of pressure particularly on our players in terms of their club football before the world Cup but there is a lot of optimism in Spain " Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said "It's a nice moment for Spain football.
                                             "Lets see if we can harnese our Euro momentum and use it at the World Cup, even though we know it gets harder and harder to win because we'll be up against more difficult rivals"

Spain is built around a Barcelona team that won a record six club trophies in one calender year, so expectations are probably higher than ever.

"They have some adsolutely fantastic players and there's no doubt they play some lovely football .To my best team in the world today," said Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who plays for Barcelona. "No one looks as secure as team. They have so much confidence right now and that's essential for any team going into a major tournament."

Confidence comes from having Fernando Torres, David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the starting lineup. And being drawn into one of the easier groups, with Switzerland, Chile and Honduras in Group H.

"South Africa 2010 is our big chance and we don't want to waste it " Torres said. "Whoever we face in the round of 16 will be fearsome whether we first or second". Torres will be looking to shed a forgettable season at Liverpool where he spend most of his time on the sidelines due to various injuries. The 25-year -old striker should at least be well rested from knee surgry when Spain plays it's opening World Cup match against Switzerland on June 16 in Durban

The manner in which Spain goes into the tourmaent is also providing a boost. The team has only dropped one game since a 1-0 friendly loss to Romania in November 2006 ,2-0 setback against the USA at last year's Confederations cup.

"That defeat did us good by helping us realize that the road to the World Cup wasn't going to be easy , but that we had to stay on track, " Torres said . "And what better way to do that than winning ten games in a row in qualifying. We have now recovered any confidence that we may have lost that day against the USA".

With Villa also up front, Spain's attack is one of the most feared in Europe. Villa is also closing in on Raul Gonzalez's record total of 44 goals for the team. The Spaniard has scored 35 goals in only 53 appearances, compared to the Real Madrid striker's 102 matches played.