Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque takes no pleasure in avoiding Brazil in the World Cup second round, with Iberian rivals Portugal an equally tough hurdle for the European champions on Tuesday.
After a rocky start to the tournament, Spain pulled themselves together to top Group H with Brazil doing the same in Group G.
To many it was a relief, with the top two teams in the world meeting in the round of 16 seen as an anti-climax when that is the match long tipped by pundits as a potential final.
Del Bosque though said Portugal was as much of a challenge. “We’ve seen how they controlled the game against Brazil, hitting them on the counter-attack,” he said.
“Portugal are going to be a very tough side. I take no satisfaction from the fact we’re up against Portugal instead of Brazil. They are both great national teams.”
What Del Bosque has taken satisfaction from is the way his team have bounced back from losing their opening game to Switzerland 0-1.
“We were very upset when we lost to Switzerland. I think as from now we will be more optimistic in every sense of the word and I’m sure that optimism will be seen on the pitch,” Bosque said. — AFP