International Friendly: Spain beat Denmark in Copenhagen

Prematch

FIFA.com

Continuity the key for Del Bosque

(AFP) Tuesday 19 August

Vicente del Bosque faces his first test in charge of Spain when they take on Denmark in Copenhagen on Wednesday, with continuity uppermost in his mind. The 57-year-old replaced Luis Aragones, 69, after La Furia Roja's 1-0 defeat of Germany in the final of UEFA EURO 2008 in June.

"He wants to work and to keep things as they are," said captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who played under Del Bosque at Real Madrid. The former defender had told his squad at their first training session on Monday: "Guys, I'm not going to change anything."

Having won two UEFA Champions League trophies and two Spanish La Liga titles when he was in charge of Los Merengues, Del Bosque has the credentials to gain the respect of the players. The match against Denmark will launch Spain's preparations for their 2010 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying campaign, which begins when they host Bosnia on 6 September and Armenia four days later.

Spain, who struggled to qualify for EURO 2008 after a disastrous start, will not want to repeat that scenario this time in a qualifying group that also includes Estonia, Belgium and Turkey.

Del Bosque wrote in Tuesday's edition of the ABC newspaper that, before the recent continental finals, "people, my friends were saying it would be better for me if Spain don't win, but they are wrong."If we had lost again, there would have been an unbearable atmosphere, more doubts and differences. We might have been talking about revolution, and in football the best thing is continuity."

But that does not mean he will not change anything. He has used the absence through injury of some of Spain's EURO 2008 winners to inject some new blood into the squad, including Sevilla attacking midfielder Diego Capel and Athletic Bilbao defenders Fernando Amorebieta and Andoni Iraola.

For Wednesday's match, he is expected to keep the line-up that won EURO 2008, except for the injured Carlos Marchena. And he can count on Valencia's two Davids - Villa and Silva - who showed in the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid on Sunday that they are still on form, as are Xavi of Barcelona and Liverpool's Fernando Torres.

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Post-match

uefa.com

Del Bosque not fooled by Spain scoreline

Thursday 21 August 2008

Vicente Del Bosque said his new players' "confidence and skill" helped Spain overcome a shaky start to earn a 3-0 friendly win against Denmark in Copenhagen.

Slow start

With the Madrid air crash earlier in the day ensuring a sombre atmosphere around the team for Del Bosque's first match since replacing Luis Aragonés, the European champions showed little sparkle in the first half. They improved after the interval when Xabi Alonso scored twice either side of a Xavi Hernández effort to give Spain victory. "We started badly, we were slow and overly cautious," said former Real Madrid CF coach Del Bosque. "Denmark were better than us in the first half but we reacted well and ended up playing a good game against high level opposition."

Saving grace

The hosts had some decent opportunities before the interval and the 57-year-old acknowledged that a goal could easily have changed the complexion of the game. "We have to recognise that if it hadn't been for [defender Carles] Puyol and [goalkeeper Iker] Casillas we would have conceded at least one goal, but the players' confidence and skill allowed us to overcome the poor start and win," said Del Bosque. "We've got two [FIFA] World Cup qualifiers coming up and we have to get things right because we can't afford to make any mistakes. We are the favourites to go through but we can't slip up, especially at home."

Winning formula

Alonso expects Spain to retain the same playing style that saw them prevail in Austria and Switzerland as they meet Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia, Belgium and Turkey in qualifying Group 5. "This system worked at the European championship," he said. "With the players we have in the team we need to keep playing the same way and it worked against Denmark, especially in the second half." Fellow midfielder David Silva added: "There are a lot of young players in this team and we haven't fulfilled our potential yet. We want to continue the progress we made at UEFA EURO 2008™ and with Del Bosque it looks as though we are going to do that."