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Spain vs Russia
Spain have had a stop start FIFA World Cup Campaign so far. They started off strong against Portugal and it took a very special Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick to deny them all three points in their opening fixture, they did the job against Iran, and with qualification assured ahead of the final group game, they took their foot off the pedal against Morocco and had to settle for a draw.
Despite it not having been the greatest group campaign, it would be foolish to overlook the quality that Spain possess in their squad and there is a reason they were among the two most favored teams to lift the World Cup in nearly every bookies' book.
Spain have a lethal striker in Diego Costa, a very creative strike force led by the likes of David Silva, the veteran genius Andres Iniesta and Isco, which is backed by the formidable duo of Pique and Ramos in defense.
The overall strength of the Spanish side should be too much for hosts Russia. Russia aren't exactly football heavyweights and while playing in front of a packed home crowd will help, but home crowds can only do so much.
Russia have done well to get to the knockout rounds but getting past Spain will be an unenviable task.
What has truly helped Russia has been the form of Winger Denis Cheryshev, who scored two goals to lead his side past a hapless Saudi Arabia, and then scored another in the following game to help Russia past Egypt.
Result - Russia have had a fine tournament but the gulf between Russia and Spain is a large one and Spain should have little trouble winning this fixture. Expect lots of goals, most of them from Spain.
