Brazil favourites for Confederations Cup: Spanish coach

Sao Paulo, Dec 1 (IANS) Spain’s football coach Vicente del Bosque says host nation Brazil will be favourites to win next year’s Confederations Cup.

Considered a prelude to the World Cup, which begins 12 months later, the tournament will feature each of the six continental champions in addition to Euro 2012 runners up, reports Xinhua.

Spain has won the past two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup, leaving most pundits predicting another victory for del Bosque’s team in the June 16-30 competition.

But speaking at a press conference ahead of the Confederations Cup draw, del Bosque talked down his team’s top-billing.

“Brazil are the team to beat,” the former Real Madrid manager said.

Del Bosque dismissed suggestions he could use the tournament to experiment with untested players.

“This is a big challenge after our World Cup and Euro successes – we find ourselves in a historic period for Spanish football and we want to continue in this vein at the Confederations Cup and also qualifiers thereafter for 2014,” he said.

“Friendlies or competitive matches – we will always look to perform at the highest level.”

Del Bosque’s attitude appears to be in contrast with Italy’s coach Cesare Prandelli, who made clear his intention to blood new players.

“We have interesting young players and we must decide who we take with us to the Confederations Cup, given that the Under-21 European Championships are also on next summer,” Prandelli said.

IANS 2012-12-01 12:36:08