Spain v Honduras: match preview

Group H
Spain v Honduras
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
Kick-off: Mon June 21, 7.30pm BST
TV: ITV1 7pm, ITV HD 7pm

Spain, still reeling from the sensational defeat by Switzerland, expect to get the show rolling with an emphatic performance against a Honduran side which was given the runaround by Chile. Vicente Del Bosque is being urged by all and sundry to be a bit more ambitious this time around by dropping one of his midfield anchors, Sergio Busquets, and adopting a more attacking approach but he is not about to make sweeping changes to a system which saw the Switzerland defeat as only Spain’s second in 49 games.

Key clash

David Villa has an astonishing scoring record for Spain, having netted in his last internationals, but it will be down to Wigan’s left back Maynor Figueroa, who’s employed as a stalwart central defender for his country, to do the marshalling

Touchline duel

Del Bosque is fairly unflappable and will not be unduly fazed by the criticism aimed his way since the Switzerland defeat while Honduras’s Colombian boss Reinaldo Rueda, a former university lecturer already so popular that he has been granted Honduran citizenship, would be homing in on deification if he could orchestrate the toppling of the team which has looked the world’s best this past couple of years


Talking tactics

Critics of Del Bosque, including his predecessor as Spain boss Luis Aragones, felt he had been too cautious in the opening game, utilising his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation which put too much pressure on the lone striker David Villa. So, he could prefer to switch to 4-4-2, with Villa and Fernando Torres working in tandem

What they say

Del Bosque: “Losing to Switzerland wasn’t a good sign to send to our rivals, but in football you can always lose but I feel a sense that we will avenge this defeat."

Rueda: "Chile may have been our toughest opponents and we know we can give more still. We have the strength to withstand Spain and won’t rush to believe that we are out yet”

Teams

Spain (4-2-3-1): 1 Casillas, 15 Ramos, 3 Pique, 5 Puyol, 11 Capdevila, 14 Alonso, 16 Busquets, 21 Silva, 8 Xavi, 6 Iniesta, 7 Villa

Honduras (4-4-1-1): 18 Valles, 23 Mendoza, 2 Chavez, 3 Figueroa, 21 Izaguirre; 17 Alvares, 20 Guevara, 8 Palacios, 13 Espinoza, 7 Nunez, 9 Pavon

Previous meetings

Played 1: Spain 1, Draws 0, Honduras 0

1982: (Valencia, WC): Spain 1 Honduras 1

Fact: When these teams met in the finals in Spain, in 1982, the hosts were runners up in their groups and failed to qualify from the second group stage. Honduras went out after the initial group stage.

Prediction: The Spaniards will cruise through this one