Del Bosque: France a sterner test than England
Reuters - Wednesday 20 June 2012, 09:11
Spain's Euro 2012
quarter-final opponents France are the toughest from Group D
even though they finished second behind England after losing 2-0
to Sweden on Tuesday, according to coach Vicente del Bosque.
The world and European champions will perhaps be buoyed by a
poor French performance against the Swedes but Spain have never
beaten France in a competitive game and Les Bleus eliminated
them from the 2006 World Cup en route to the final.
Del Bosque is expecting the French to try to gain early
control of Saturday's clash in Donetsk.
"They are definitely the most difficult opponent of the
three [France, England or Ukraine] we could have ended up with,"
Del Bosque told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.
"They will play the way they know and try to seize the
initiative," he said, adding that France's most talented players
were striker Karim Benzema and playmakers Franck Ribery and
Samir Nasri.
"I don't expect them to played defensively but their turn to
defend will certainly come.
"Let's see what happens. The French do not suffer from any
inferiority complex and neither will we."
After France's defeat by Sweden, Del Bosque's counterpart
Laurent Blanc acknowledged that his players will need to
significantly raise their game to get past the Spanish, who are
bidding to become the first nation to win back-to-back
continental titles with a World Cup in between.
"After such a game, it's hard to picture how we can beat
Spain," Blanc said. "But we will fight. Croatia showed us how it
can be done," he added, in reference to Spain's laboured 1-0 win
over the Croats that sent them through as Group C winners.
The winners of the quarter-final will meet Cristiano
Ronaldo's Portugal or the Czech Republic in the last four.