Match of the Week Preview: Article 2

Italia vs Espana
Thursday, October 6th
2:45pm EST

Will Italy leave Torino winners or will Spain fall forward to victory?  As the European club level takes a week plus autumn hiatus, we will turn our attention towards the international soccer scene.  Depending on what confederation your nation is in, the importance of this International break may vary.  For the United States, it’s simply a time of the year to give some youngsters, and perhaps those well earned vets, a try during a couple of friendlies.  But if your’e tuned into the goings on in Europe and South America, its time to get serious as these participating nations will be competing in World Cup qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.  With that said, to me there is no bigger matchup on the docket than Italy vs Spain this upcoming Thursday.  Therefore, I’ll touch on some key points surrounding this game, such as the changing of the guard for both squads, Spain seeking revenge, and the significance of what the result of this match means for Group G in Europe’s World Cup Qualifying Table. 

For starters, Italy and Spain are two of Europe’s most successful clubs.  Italy has won one European Championship to go along with its four World Cup victories bringing them in as second overall behind Brazil, and tied with Germany for first among European counterparts.  Meanwhile, La Roja has won one World Cup and are tied with Germany for the most European Championships with three.  In addition, over the last decade, Spain has been in what many have called a “Golden Era” of football for the country.  This is because the national team won the 2008 European Championship followed by winning the 2010 World Cup, and culminating in 2012, they won the European Championship, cementing its place in footballing lore as this feat has never been done before, and perhaps will never be accomplished again.

Therefore this matchup will be a real treat for fans as two footballing titans take the pitch against each other, but wait, it gets better.  This game will mark a rematch of this past summers’ EURO 2016 Round of 16 game in which we saw Italy surprise and stun Spain to the tune of a 2-0 final score.  It was expected that the Antonio Conte led Italian squad would defend with all their might and try to score via the counter, and that’s exactly what happened, as the match sealing goal came via the break.  Spain had been considered one of the top favorites to win the tournament due to its aforementioned back to back to back titles, but La Roja succumbed to the defensive pressure and looked like the uninspired and unimaginative team that failed to make it out of the Group in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  I would expect to see more passion, creativity and determination in this one from Spain, especially since this game will give these two Group G favorites the advantage in securing the top spot and earning an automatic bid to the World Cup.  The loser will then need to keep pace the rest of the way during qualifying and hope to unseat their counterpart the second time around.  Also, its noteworthy to mention that while the second place team within the Group remains alive for a World Cup berth, that team will have to play in a two legged playoff instead of getting an automatic bid.

Lastly, we could see two very different teams than what we saw this past summer, since both managers Vincente Del Bosque for Spain and Antonio Conte for Italy have moved on, resulting in a potential new look and new identity, especially for Spain.  Del Bosque was apart of the legendary run of success for La Roja, but after two consecutive disappointments in major tournaments, everyone felt like it was time for a change. The squad began to underperform and as a result the river bed of trophies dried up.  So, here comes in Julen Lopetegui as the new La Roja boss.  As a manager, he’s experienced mixed results as he led Porto to the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 2014, but never won any silverware, which ultimately led to him being released of his duties.  Needless to say, he’s not a glamorous signing. It will be interesting to see how the squad responds to him and his philosophies whilst at the helm.  Spain has a plethora of riches all over the field, thus this Spanish side must begin producing the goods once again.  We’ll just see if Lopetegui is the man to motivate them.  For Italy however, Antonio Conte took what was considered an average team by Italian standards and led them to the quarterfinals of the European Championship, only losing to Germany on penalties. He was loved by all in Italy, thus making Giampiero Ventura’s job a little more difficult.  Still, with that said, Italy boast perhaps the best back four and goalkeeping combination in the world. Additionally, they will still relay on and hope for a goal or two from Graziano Pelle or Eder via the counter or through set pieces.  In the end though, the lone goal of the game wont come from the Azzurri, but rather from La Roja’s in-form forward Diego Costa.  Ironically, the man that fronts the Chelsea starting Xl managed by none other than Antonio Conte.

LSB Prediction: 1-0 Espana