Spain won’t count chickens, must beat Japan, says coach

LUIS Enrique said Spain will not count their chickens before they are hatched when they face Japan tonight, aiming to win and qualify for the World Cup knockout phase.

La Roja are top of Group E on four points and guaranteed to progress with a draw, but are aiming for all three points at the Khalifa International Stadium.

Some have suggested that Spain might benefit from coming second and avoiding a potential quarter-final clash with Brazil, but their coach disagreed.

“We have reflected on it, but from a professional point of view, imagine this, that we were interested in coming second,” Luis Enrique said yesterday.

“We’re in the 90th minute, stoppage time arrives, and both games are 0-0, and in the 95th minute with 15 seconds to go, Japan score and Costa Rica score.

“You’ve speculated for 95 minutes and been eliminated in the 95th.

“Or the reverse. Germany are winning their game 5-0 and we are at 0-0, which is good for us, and then we concede and we're out.

“When you are convinced that your team is a very good team and that we want to play seven games, we don’t want to come second. We want to finish first.

“That means playing against whoever it is in the next round, against the second team from Group F. Perfect.

“Then in the quarter-finals against a team from Group H.

“(Maybe) we’ll play against Brazil, but first we have to beat Japan.

“We will not count our chickens before they are hatched. Top level sport is not about speculation. We have to do our homework and finish first in the group.”

Japan earned a 2-1 win over Germany in their first game, in one of the surprises of the tournament so far.

Spain won the World Cup in 2010 and are among the fancied teams to lift the trophy after a 7-0 romp over Costa Rica in their first game and a 1-1 draw against Germany.

Japan, meanwhile, will try to pull the plug on Spain’s “computer game” football, with the Blue Samurai eyeing their second major upset of the tournament.

Japan beat Germany in their opening game of Group E and they will book their place in the last 16 if they can add Spain to their collection of scalps. Victory will not come easy for Japan, who came under pressure for long periods against Germany and stumbled to a stodgy 1-0 loss to Costa Rica in their second game.

Coach Hajime Moriyasu is wary of Spain’s threat, but backed his players to spring another surprise.

“Tomorrow is going to be a highpressure game for our players but they must believe in themselves and in their teammates,” he said yesterday.

“It’s always an important match, that never changes. If the players can play to 100% of their potential, then the result will follow.”

Moriyasu called Spain a “tactically strong” team who have “dynamism as well as technique”.