Wales – Spain SOCCER PICKS
Wales and Spain meet at Millennium Stadium, in a friendly match. This is the 2nd friendly of the year of Wales, after the previous friendly against Mexico. In the case of Spain, this is their 5th friendly of the year, after previous friendlies against Tunisia, Switzerland, Argentina and Germany. There is no record of direct confrontations between these two teams in the last 3 years. The last match was played on 04-30-1985 and ended with the score: Wales (3-0) Spain. In this game the home factor may be decisive, as Wales presents considerable differences in their results at home and as a visitor.
Wales:
This is the 2nd friendly of the year of the home team, after the friendly against Mexico, which ended with the final result: Mexico (0-0) Wales. This is a team that usually makes good use of the home advantage, stronger with the help of its supporters, since in the last 30 matches they register 4 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses in away matches; against 8 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses at their stadium. The team comes to this match after a defeat away with Denmark by (2-0). In the last 5 home matches for all competitions, Wales have won 2, tied 2 and lost 1.
The selection of Wales part for this unmotivated day, after a snub, by 2-0, in A game to count for the League of Nations. In this match against Spain, the team under the command of Ryan Giggs must appear with a low block, exploring in the best way the space existing in the back of the opponent: Tom Lawrence is the main intervener in this type of transition. On the other hand, Gareth Bale must occupy the most advanced position of the Welsh team, being this very fast and strong in the finalization. For this difficult game the coach can count on all his players.
Spain:
This is the visitor’s 5th friendly match of the year, after previous friendlies in which they recorded the following results: Tunisia (0-1) Spain, Spain (1-1) Switzerland, Spain (6-1) Argentina and Germany (1) -1) Spain. This is a team that usually shows similar results, at home and abroad, so it is not usually affected by the home team factor, as in the last 30 matches they register 9 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss in away matches; against 10 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss at their stadium. The team comes to this match after a home win against Croatia by (6-0). In the last 10 games played away for all competitions, Spain won 7 and tied 3. Their defense has not been very solid, as they suffered goals in 3 of the last 4 matches, but their attack has scored regularly, since who scored at least one goal in each of the last 4 matches for this competition. This is a team that usually does not feel difficult to open the scoring: it scored the first goal in 12 of the last 15 games, of these 12 it reached the break in advantage in 7 and managed to maintain the advantage until the end of the 90 ‘in 8 .
The Spanish team comes to this game motivated, after a huge triumph, by 6-0, against the runners-up of the World Cup, Croatia: the goals of the team were marked by Saul, Marco Asensio, Rodrigo, Sergio Ramos, Isco and Kalinic (autogol). In this match against Wales, coach Luis Enrique is expected to play in the usual tactical system, that is, in 4-3-3, benefiting possession of the ball and organized attacks. Marco Asensio is the great highlight of this team, being very fast and strong in the hand to hand. For this game the Spanish coach must place some less used players on the field.
