Spain vs France Betting Preview

In past meetings between Spain and France, Les Bleus have held sway, winning five of their seven encounters. However, this stat will count for nothing when the two nations cross swords in the last 16 of the World Cup in Hanover on Tuesday evening.France are a mere shadow of the side that triumphed in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 Euro Championships; the lion's share of their leading players are now at the veteran stage and, as we saw in all three of their group matches, they are extremely vulnerable nowadays.Conversely, Spain are finally realising their massive potential judged on their performances when taking maximum points from Group H. Their oldest outfield player is Michael Salgado at thirty-one. In the main, their squad is one of hungry, youthful players, who are at their physical peak. At 11/8 with Bet 365, backing Spain to emerge victorious in the match result market is worth snapping up.With the exception of Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres is arguably the brightest young thing in terms of strikers in European football at present. The Atletico Madrid hitman, who has weighed in with thirteen goals in thirty-three appearances for his country thus far, has not always put his best foot forward on the international stage. But, as he demonstrated during Spain's qualifying campaign, he is now coming of age.Indeed, the twenty-two-year-old really shone during the preliminaries, scoring seven times in eleven matches, and generally impressing with his pace and ability to drop deep and run at defenders. And Torres didn't fail to deliver in the group stage either.A superb half volley nine minutes from time applied the icing to the cake in Spain's 4-0 drubbing of the Ukraine, and El Niño Torres ran riot during their 3-1 win over Tunisia, scoring twice but contributing much more in terms of all round play than goals alone. Along with fellow youngsters, David Villa and Jose Antonio Reyes - and their experienced talisman Raul - Spain boast an outstanding compliment of strikers, in addition to a solid midfield and defence. Significantly, la selección appear to possess the self-belief and mental fortitude, which has been absent in recent competitions. The Spain of four years ago wouldn't have fought back in the manner that the current team did when coming from behind to beat Tunisia at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. They really do look the part.To their credit, the French managed to raise their game somewhat after their dull 0-0 draw with Switzerland in their opening Group G match. Raymond Domenech's men ground out a 1-1 draw with South Korea before gaining a 2-0 verdict over Togo to seal their spot in the last 16.However, while these performances were a major improvement on the game against the Swiss, they still didn't augur well for their prospects of further progression within this tournament. The likes of Patrick Viera and Zinedine Zidane are simply unable to stamp their authority on games the way they did in their respective heydays.Although France have arguably the best striker in the world to call upon in the shape of Thierry Henry, but the Arsenal man hasn't been able to do for the French what he does for the Gunners, largely because Domenech hasn't been able to find a striker within his squad that augments Henry in attack.David Trezegeut has been unable to do for country what he does for club, and just doesn't seem to click with Henry, while Louis Saha has been struggling with injuries recently and Sylvain Wiltord might as well have stayed at home given his on-pitch efforts in this tournament so far.