Del Bosque’s choices: stick or bluff

After tying its Euro 2012 opener with Italy, Spain must hit the victory trail against Ireland in Gdansk on Thursday night (8.45pm, Telecinco) to ease its path toward qualification for the knockout phase. On paper the reigning European and world champion has more than enough talent to be confident of success, but the Irish, coached by wily old Italian Giovanni Trapattoni, will be planning an obstinate defense of its goal — and pride — after getting a thumping by Group C’s other team, Croatia, in its opening match.

Coach Vicente del Bosque said this week that Trapattoni’s team was “very organized in the way they play,” adding that: “It is a very aggressive team, from the strikers down to the defenders.”

Regarding some of the criticism after the champion’s somewhat disorderly start to the tournament, when the Italian team surprised many by taking the game to Spain during certain periods, the World Cup-winning coach said he felt an “obligation to play better and change people’s minds,” but added that “it will be difficult because many people make their minds up before games have even started.”

“I don’t mind a bit of a debate,” he said. “We know that in soccer it’s impossible to make everyone happy.”

When asked about the decision to start the Italy game with midfielder Cesc Fàbregas as a false number 9, Del Bosque was unapologetic: “Everyone’s here on their own merits and everyone in the team is a great player. The problem we have is that only 11 players can play. If we play without a striker, people will say that’s the problem. If we play with wingers, people will say the problem is that we played with wingers. But that’s normal; it’s all part of the debate and it doesn’t bother me.”

On the 1-1 tie with Italy in which Fàbregas scored the equalizer after Antonio Di Natale had given his side the lead, Del Bosque said: “Italy have always been a great team. They have very competitive players and very creative players who are as good as ours. I don’t think we played badly, to tell the truth. But on the other hand, we know we didn’t do everything right, even though Cesc scored and Fernando Torres had a couple of chances. In the last 20 minutes we had chances and we were always wanting the ball, while they wanted to see the game out.”

Coming on as a substitute, Torres, the hero of Vienna four years ago, made sure the biggest selection talking point going into the tournament would get even bigger, putting himself in good positions from which to score but showing a lack of confidence when it mattered. Most observers assume Del Bosque will play an authentic center forward against Ireland, meaning he must choose whether to keep faith with Torres or look at the other options — namely Álvaro Negredo or Fernando Llorente — before the do-or-die games begin.

A dominant performance and a stack of chances for Torres could ease the pressure all round, but a night of frustration could leave the Spain coach going into a tense final group-phase match against Croatia without a clear idea of his ideal 11.

This article was compiled using material from www.as.com/english.