Spain Vs. France, Euro 2012: Xabi Alonso Fires Spain To Semifinals

Unfortunately, Spain as a fun team really are a figment of the world’s collective imagination. Instead, they take one pillar of Guardiola’s ethos - possession football as defensive football - and are using it to conquer the world.

There are two main reasons that Vicente del Bosque’s preferred playing style works so effectively in international tournaments. The first is that national teams are far, far less coordinated than their club counterparts, who are given years of training together, as opposed to a few short weeks. It’s almost impossible to get the sort of understanding that teammates on club sides enjoy during the World Cup or the Euros, which is why managers love introducing partnerships of players already familiar with each other.

France look like they’re capable of keeping Spain from scoring again and like they’re capable of scoring on the counter, but it certainly doesn’t look likely. Laurent Blanc has to figure out a way to keep Spain from keeping the ball for the next 45 minutes, which is much more difficult than it sounds.

We’ll have live coverage of the game in our Spain vs. France, Euro 2012 Quarterfinals StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

We’ll have live coverage of the game in our Spain vs. France, Euro 2012 Quarterfinals StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

We’ll have live coverage of the game in our Spain vs. France, Euro 2012 Quarterfinals StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

Monty the Psychic Metal Disk says: Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, 1-0 Spain.

Game Date/Time: Saturday, June 23, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. local