USA Vs. Spain: Fernando Torres Benched, Alvaro Negredo Starts

Fernando Torres will not get a starting role in the Spain vs. USA international friendly, finding himself replaced by Sevilla forward Alvaro Negredo. Presumably, this is a result of a terrible Premier League campaign which saw Torres at the heart of a 50M transfer to Liverpool to Chelsea, where he promptly flopped. With El Nino looking like a shadow of his former self, and Negredo putting in some solid performances for Sevilla, I can't imagine that this was a difficult choice for Vicente del Bosque.

Negredo will be deployed alongside David Villa in what should be a terrifying partnership for the USA's slighty leggy defence, and he provides a far greater threat in the air than the likes of Torres would. So, the fact that a 50m striker is on the bench isn't really a good sign for the USA - Negredo is probably in better form than Torres at this point in time.