Spain v South Africa
Football: International, FIFA Confederations Cup
Sunday 28th June 2009 - Kickoff 14:00

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Spain

Spain have once again flattered to deceive in a global tournament raising doubts about their ability to win on the big stage even though they are the holders of the European Championship. They will like to end this tournament with a positive result although they will also be expected to make changes.

Spain got through their group with 3 straight wins against New Zealand, Iraq and South Africa and they did not concede a goal. However they were beaten 2-0 by the United States of America in the Semi Finals when they had a number of chances but could not break down the door.

Vicente Del Bosque is expected to re-shuffle the pack for this game and it is entirely possible that Diego Lopez will get the start in goal as he has not played so far in this tournament. Others likely to get a chance to shine are Cazorla, Mata and Albiol.

South Africa

South Africa hosted this tournament in preparation for the World Cup next year and they have done a good job. The team on the field managed to qualify into the Semi Finals which was an achievement themselves.

South Africa drew with Iraq in their first match before beating New Zealand and losing to Spain which was enough to take them in the Semi Finals. They then proceeded to give the Brazilians a really tough match, losing to an 87th minute free-kick by Dani Alves to lose the game 1-0.

South Africa performed so well in their match with Brazil that it is likely the same 11 players will get the start in this match.

Head to Head

Spain and South Africa met last week when Spain won 2-0 even though they had made a number of changes to their team.

The 2 teams had only met 1 other time and that resulted in a Spain 3-2 win at the 2002 World Cup

Prediction

Spain will make a few changes to their side but they will be desperate to get back on the winning trail and end this tournament with some positives after the disappointment of losing in the Semi Finals. They will not want to come back here in June 2010 off the back of 2 defeats.

South Africa have only managed to score in 1 of their 4 games at this tournament, against New Zealand, and this is going to be a tough hurdle to overcome. They performed well against Brazil in the Semi Finals, but Spain's second string have already given them a hard time.

I think Spain are going to be good enough to win this game again but the odds on the straight win are a little low for my liking as its not always clear how focused they will be after losing in the Semi Final and they would really have been expecting to play Brazil in the Final.

In that case I will play Draw HT-Spain FT

The Pick :

Spain 1-0 South Africa

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Draw HT-Spain FT This pays 4.50 at Ladbrokes