The World Cup schedule starts on Thursday and Spain comes into Brazil 2014 as the defending champions and one of the favorites of the 32 teams and they are in Group B with the Netherlands, Chile and Australia and they start on Friday with their first match against the Dutch team and that is on ESPN from Salvador at 3 pm ET.
Spain is the top team in Group B and the Spaniards are on top of the Netherlands, Chile and Australia and that group will not be easy to get out of, but Spain is the favorite no doubt. The team opens with the Netherlands in Salvador and that means a matchup with Robin Van Persie, while Chile is the second game and that will be on June 18 and that will be played in Rio de Janeiro. The last game of the group stage for Spain has Australia and that will be from Curitiba and that is a tough travel schedule, but it's nothing compared to what the Americans are dealing with and Spain also is lucky to avoid playing in Manaus at the Amazon stadium.
No team has won back to back World Cup tournaments since Brazil in 1962 and no team from Europe has won the Cup in South America, adding even more history for the Spanish to overcome. The team is one of the strongest from top to bottom with players like Xavi, Diego Costa, Andrés Iniesta and David Villa and and they come in as one of the favorites, but they are doing it quietly. The team won the Euros as well and one things Brazil has over the team is a win in the Confederations Cup and while that is not always a signal of how the World Cup will go, it gives the home nation some major confidence.
Spain comes into the World Cup as one of the favorites with a strong team, but an old one and a number of key players are over 30, including Xavi and Villa and they will need everyone to step up. Iniesta is a World Cup hero for the nation and scored the goal in the final back in 2010 and Villa comes in and has been a very consistent player, scoring over 50 goals in nearly 100 caps and he will have to be at the top of his game as well. The team went undefeated in qualifying and had two draws and the team was first place in the Europe Group 1 and they scored 14 goals and only allowed three and this is the 14th appearance for the nation in the World Cup and won in 2010 after finishing fourth in 1950, which was the last time the tourney was in Brazil.
