Spain

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque is talking up the chances of Portugal ahead of their last sixteen clash in the World Cup. He is just talking, Portugal are not good enough, but with all the questions thrown at each team these days, you have to accept you are going to get some blarney.

"We've seen how they controlled the game against Brazil, hitting them on the counter-attack," Del Bosque said.

We are starting to think this ball really does have something wrong with it and it isn't just because Fernando Torres Liverpool's Number Nine is talking about it today. We really do think we've seen too many missed shots for it to be a coincidence any longer.

Torres played last night and missed one or two opportunities and while he has the perfect excuse, in so much he is just coming back from knee surgery, he is laying the blame directly at the feet of the ball, if the ball did have feet.

"Personally speaking, I am very happy to have played but we need to practice a bit more with this Jabulani because we are having a bit of bother with it," said Torres.

Torres isn't the first to complain about the ball and we suspect he won't be the last and we expect this to run and run for a long time to come.

Spain who arrived in South Africa as tournament favourites are now behind Brazil and Argentina in the bookies pecking order.

Two goals from David Villa were enough for Spain to cruise to victory in this match and pick up their first points of the World Cup. We say cruise, because they looked like they had more if they needed it, they just didn't.

The first was a well worked goal by Villa and came just after a bright start from Honduras. Villa picks up the ball on the left, takes it into the box and he bends it round the keeper from the edge of the box - it looked good and he has good feet.

Well, that was a shock. Spain lose to Switzerland and Iker Casillas is beaten twice - only the post saving Spain from losing 2-0. You would think they will still qualify, but will they?

I'm not as convinced as I was - in fact I'd say that even if they did qualify, if they found today hard the last 16 and quarter finals are going to be like climbing Mount Everest in comparison.

I'm not going to get to hopeful that we see lots of goals in this game and then hopefully we might. See what I'm doing; I'm getting my hopes up. No, seriously, this might not be a good game but there will be goals.

A lot of people think Spain are going to win this tournament and they might - they certainly have the players that can and I wouldn't be surprised, which is why they will win today even though they will probably not be playing their strongest side.

Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres, Liverpool's Number Nine, are all available for Spain today which means it is possible we are going to see some electric football, even if the Barcelona bound Arsenal midfielder Fabregas isn't good enough to start when Vicente del Bosque has his preferred eleven available to him.

But, Fabregas might start, as del Bosque has said that he might not risk Iniesta.

Spain defender Sergio Ramos is keen to get his World Cup started but is also keeping his feet on the ground and not showing any signs of over confidence.

"After a long period in Spain and here in South Africa we're keen to play the match and we want to show what we've been doing for a long time," said the Spanish defender. "It's true that the first game is important. The first game is crucial for confidence and for the mood of the players."

Spanish defender Sergio Ramos thinks that Italy, Brazil, Holland and Portugal all have a chance of winning the World Cup this year but we think this is just the Spanish way of trying to ease the pressure on the World Cup favourites.

"Well, I think in these kinds of events you always have a surprise," the Real Madrid defender said.