Northern Ireland vs Spain betting preview

One has to feel sorry for Lawrie Sanchez's Northern Ireland. Beaten with consummate ease - probably even easier than the 3-0 scoreline indicates - at Windsor Park over the weekend, and on Wednesday evening in Belfast they face the comparatively mighty Spain. Ominously for Sanchez's charges, their defending looks, to describe it sympathetically, fragile. Others might be more ruthless and say down right shoddy. Either way, if Iceland can put three past them, it could well be a case of damage limitation against a Spanish outfit rich in attacking flair. David Villa and Fernando Torres are without a doubt two of the brightest young things in football at present. Villa completed a brace while Torres and Luis Garcia added further strikes to complete a 4-0 routing of Liechtenstein in their side's opening Euro 2008 qualification match on September 2. Luis Aragones employed his favoured 4-3-3 formation in that match and a similar three-pronged attack spearheaded by Raul should see la selección dish out a similar beating to Northern Ireland, as it's extremely difficult to envisage the Irish defence being able to repel the onslaught which is likely to ensue. Luis Garcia can be a tad frustrating at times, especially for Liverpool, as he has a knack for getting himself into goalscoring positions, but sometimes seems to lack the confidence to deliver the end product. However, when on form the midfielder is as capable a finisher as many a striker, and at 3/1 with William Hill the 28-year-old is an exceptional bet in the anytime goalscorer market - Coral are as short as even money that he will score during the match! Sanchez will no doubt seek to instil a greater level of belief within his defence and is likely to have his central midfielders play deep in order to try and contain the Spaniards. But once Spain break the deadlock, chances are they will roll over and be there for the taking. I doubt that it will be a humiliating scoreline, but at 7/1 with Blue Square backing Spain to win 3-0 appeals. Verdict - 1pt Luis Garcia in the anytime goalscorer market @ 3/1 (William Hill) and Spain 3-0 in the correct score market @ 7/1 (Blue Square)