Confederations Cup
2013-06-20 - Spain vs Tahiti
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: FIFA Confederations Cup
Thursday 20 June 2013 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Preview
Out of all the games in the Confederations Cup, this is expected to be the biggest mismatch as Spain, the reigning European and World Champions, take on Tahiti, a team made up of part-timers in the main. It would arguably be the biggest surprise in international football ever if anything other than a Spain win is recorded and some have suggested they could even create a new record in terms of winning margin and surpass the previous 13-0 win over Bulgaria.
Spain were absolutely brilliant against Uruguay in their first game in the Group and the 2-1 final score doesn't reflect the domination they enjoyed. It took a special free-kick for Uruguay to score in that one as Spain had the best of the chances and were comfortable winners.
That win should help Spain on the way to winning this Group ahead of a tough Semi Final against either Italy or Brazil. However, they will likely rest a number of their first team players in this one although that shouldn't prevent this being anything other than an easy win for the Spaniards.
Despite the fact that this is such a mismatch, Tahiti will likely receive plenty of support from the locals after winning fans with their approach in their first game with Nigeria. The final score may have been a 1-6 loss, but Tahiti were positive going forward and have already achieved something that was unexpected by scoring a goal in the Group.
However, the defence really struggled to keep tabs on the Nigerian tab and Spain certainly have plenty of players that will cause problems for Tahiti if they continue playing a high-line. Eddy Etaeta has suggested that Spain won't go for a record number of goals, but if Tahiti defend as they did against Nigeria, that could be tough for them to prevent.
With a number of fringe players coming into the team, these players will look to prove a point to the manager and it is unlikely that Spain will take it easy in this game.
The Spanish also saw their Under 20 team beat Tahiti's equivalent 8-0 in the FIFA Under 20 World Cup. This may be the first meeting between the senior teams, but Spain could very easily match that total if they show a little more composure than Nigeria did on Monday.
Prediction
Spain should win this game at a canter and I do think they are going to be able to create plenty of chances, especially if Tahiti play with the same freedom as they showed against Nigeria.
With the likes of David Villa, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres all wanting to stake a claim for a starting berth in later games in the competition, I am expecting Spain to win this by a huge margin and cover the Asian Handicap.
The Pick :
Spain 9-0 Tahiti
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Spain - 7.5 Asian Handicap @ 1.75
