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Few would have expected New Zealand to pull an upset over a Spain who entered the fray of the FIFA Confederations Cup boasting a 32 match unbeaten streak. But no one&nbsp; could have predicted that Liverpool’s Fernando Torres would score a hat trick within the first seventeen minutes of play.
Torres rapidly erases any doubt he’s the best striker on the planet these days.
Earlier in the day, I had been disappointed watching Iraq and host country South Africa start off the competition. Not only because it was a defensive, uninspired 0-0 draw. But because the fixture gave me nothing to write about. With no Benni McCartney in sight—it’s a long <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/FIFAconfederationscup/Features/story/2009/06/05/sp-confed-benni.html?ref=rss" target="_blank">story</a>, Steven Pienaar was the only name I recognized. And though he showed some influence after being introduced in the 85th, there was no time for the Everton man to help his country pierce the goal line.
I was hoping an EPL player would score or at least set up a great goal, so I could convert watching the matches into some relevant subject matter for EPL Talk.
When I saw Spain’s team sheet, sheet I was quickly filled with optimism. Torres, Fabregas, Alonso and Riera were all among the starters.
After Barcelona’s 2-0 decimation of Manchester United in the Champions League, I expected Spain’s backbone to be full of Camp Nou genius. But with only Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernandez in from Barca, it was clear Liverpool’s excellent season had made its impression on Vincente del Bosque. He fielded three Merseyside starters and added Alvaro Arbelo in the 53rd minutes. And with Arsenal’s Fabregas slotted in behind Torres and Villa, I just knew I’d get my EPL inspired goal.
Maybe del Bosque, a former Real Madrid manager, wasn’t as impressed by Barca’s Rome heroics as most of the rest of us.
Better for me.
Torres took no time. Picking up Fabregas’s pass on six minutes, he scooped the ball from twenty yards, curling it around the defender and keeper into the top corner of the net. Most strikers would have tried to lose their man first. Torres decided there was no need.
Then on 14 minutes, he was at it again. David Villa slotted the ball through traffic to Torres who side-footed it in.
Just as I was texting a friend to say, El Niño just scored two in the first 14! Capdevila launched the ball into the area and Torres put his head to it with force. Hat trick within seventeen minutes. After his third goal, Torres hesitated to put his arms up, as if thinking this is too easy, should I even celebrate?
And on top of the four goals from Premier League men, La Liga’s David Villa made his own brilliant and direct contributions as well. In addition to his sharp service to Torres, on 48 minutes, Villa was on hand to eat up a wayward New Zealand ball in the box and side-foot it into the net past the lunging Glen Moss.
New Zealand were demolished. It could have been worse but a couple dubious offsides calls kept Torres and Villa in check. Each had his chances to burst through into one-on-one territory where each man would certainly have found the composure and skill to beat Moss.
Spain’s unbeaten streak rises to 33. They are two away from tying Brazil’s record. No question they belong at number one in the <a href="http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html" target="_blank">world rankings</a>.

Torres, Fabregas: Premier League Stars Open Confederation Scoring

Torres, Fabregas: Premier League Stars Open Confederation Scoring - World Soccer Talk

Neptuno square, where Atletico de Madrid fans celebrate all their titles, has been visited again, after eleven years living alone. Winning 1 – 0 there are again playing Champions League. In Spain this is real news because, as you know, Atletico is Spain third team after Real Madrid and Barcelona (in number of supporters). Now their problem is Aguirre, the Manager. He has reached Champions with a not really good football (Aguero and Forlan have done almost all the job), and many colchoneros think he is not the suitable person to drive Atletico over this new adventure.
One day we will dedicate one post just to analyze Atletico´s situation. El pupas (the surname used to describe this team, that literally means “the wounds”) is never happy at all. Even now, when the objective has been reached a lot of Atleticos are against Cerezo, chairman, and Aguirre. Apart from that, they are considering the option of selling Vicente Calderon, changing it for La Peineta (Olympic Game Stadium prepared for Madrid 2016), something that increase the Atleticos edginess. Anyhow, Sunday was a celebration day…
The second important theme this week is Zaragoza and, in general, the four teams that can be relegated on Saturday. Real Madrid, with the title already in their hands, drew against them in La Romareda. Zaragoza, Osasuna, Recreativo and Valladolid are living a nightmare that can finish if they win their matches. It is so curious, but all these teams depend on themselves to stay in Primera Division. That´s because Recre plays against Valladolid, so all of them can avoid relegation winning their matches. Nevertheless, Zaragoza´s situation is incredible if we look the quality of some of their players: Diego Milito, Sergio García, Aimar, Ayala, Zapater…
Finally there is another name used in every newspaper, radio gathering or TV program: Raul. In this moment Spain is divided in two sides. One of them wants Raul in Austria and Switzerland playing with la selección. The other one prefers anyone but him. First side seems to be bigger, but Aragones doesn’t like Raul (after some problems they had in the last World Cup) and after Torres, Villa and Guiza, that will be for sure in his list, he will probably call Bojan as fourth striker. Other options are Sergio García or Tamudo, but if you have to bet, choose Bojan.

Neptuno smiles again

Neptuno smiles again - World Soccer Talk

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Torres, Fabregas: Premier League Stars Open Confederation Scoring

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Neptuno smiles again