Spain woes

I feel sorry for Spain soccer coach Vicente del Bosque. His team aren´t playing well and Spain expects. The majority of the Spanish public believed before the European Championship that Spain would just walk away with the trophy. They still might but Del Bosque is feeling the heat from the Spanish media and the public. Unfortunately for him Spain´s position as championship favourites has been underlined by the Spanish media on a regular basis. Even the government are using the football to distract everyone´s attention from the country´s dire economic fortunes. The problem facing Del Bosque as his team prepares to play France in Saturday´s quarter-finals is that he doesn´t have a striker. Any Chelsea fan will tell you that Fernando Torres is not in form and some say is past his best. Now in the World Cup Del Bosque had a team which was two years younger and also included Spain´s best striker David Villa. Villa is out injured and so is inspirational captain Carlos Pujol. Now, obviously he still has a great squad with some of the best players in the world but he doesn´t know who to play upfront. An inferior performance or even defeat against France on Saturday would see Del Bosque's superman status in Spain start to fade. The Spaniard is feeling the same pressure as the England manager usually feels. In some ways Del Boque must envy Roy Hodgson. There is little or no pressure on Roy because no-one really expected much from England. But Spain does expect.