Could Spain’s second XI beat England?

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While watching David Silva and Spain dismantle a dogged and compact Scotland on Wednesday, it struck me: this was hardly Spain’s best outfit and they were dominating.
Silva cemented his bona fides as one of the top half-dozen players in world football and Spain, with a team featuring second-choice players like Thiago Alcantara, Jordi Alba and Santi Cazorla, passed Scotland into an uneasy submission. The Scots, bless ‘em, tried hard but the Spaniards seemed at times to be playing not just another game, but on another plane.
The players who didn’t feature on Tuesday – Torres, Casillas, Xabi Alonso, Iniesta, Mata – mean it’s now apparent that Spain’s second XI could be one of the world’s ten best international outfits. Not accounting for squads (only first teams), they are helped by a healthy youth league and a relative dearth of great opposition: realistically, only the Netherlands and Germany are able to hold a candle to the Spaniards. Brazil and Argentina today are still good, but only resemble their most terrifying best.
The FIFA world rankings (hardly the greatest indicator, but the only one we’ve got) suggest the world’s top ten sides are Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, England, Croatia and Argentina.
In living up to their position description as confusing and nonsensical, the FIFA rankings have Croatia ranked ninth and Greece sitting in eleventh position. This is in spite of both squads finding themselves in the same qualifying group for Euro 2012; a group from which Greece qualified and Croatia now face a tricky playoff tie with Turkey.
We can, however, suggest this is a fairly accurate representation of the best teams in world football.
Were Spain’s Second XI to feature in the FIFA rankings, they’d come up against three great teams (Germany, the Netherlands and Uruguay), two inconsistent ones (the other South Americans) and four eminently beatable squads, each with major weaknesses. Apart from perhaps a perceived weakness in central defence, Spain II play a similar brand of football to their first-choice brethren, have pace in abundance and, as they showed on Tuesday, discipline.
Using Spain’s favoured 4-2-3-1, the second furia roja would probably include: Valdes; Alba, Jose Enrique, Alvaro Arbeloa and Raul Albiol; Thiago, Javi Martinez, Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla and Pedro; and Fernando Llorente.
Wow.
The argument could be made that this team also features some of the best players dozen players in Spain. In this lineup Pedro plays for the twos, yet started in their World Cup triumph last year – superseded by Mata and Silva. Valdes’ recent success in head-to-head battles with Casillas now invites, rather than discourages, comparison between the two. Fabregas is shuttled out of the Spain midfield (as with club) by players comfortably in the World’s top five. Spain has played better recently when Llorente – rather than Torres – has led the line.
This club may even trouble the the vaunted Spain first team. The Spain Second XI are, on paper, a better team than Croatia, Portugal and even Italy. Place Spain v2.0 in any one of the Euro 2012 qualifying groups (and back them with suitable squad depth) and they at least make the playoffs from each. It’s probably also the case that they’d slice England to pieces also.
The simile used most with Spain (and Barcelona) is “death by one thousand cuts”. Perhaps a more appropriate metaphor may be that Spanish football is at present drowning the rest of the football world – inexorably, constrictingly and (given their outstanding Euro U-21 campaign) shows no signs of receding. All that is certain is the next wave of Spanish attacks could well overwhelm a struggling Scot, Lithuanian or even Oranje. After decades of torment, La Furia Roja is certainly making up for lost time.
While going back-to-back-to-back at major tournaments is so difficult that it’s spoke of in grail-like reverence, the smart money for next year’s Euros is on a three-peat – perhaps simply because the difficulty of staying focused for such a period is balanced by the failure of chief rivals Germany and the Netherlands to bridge a gaping talent gap.

I think it's very probable that they could, just look at the quality of some of the 'reserve' players they have available. Plenty of them would easily get into the England team.

Valdes, Reina, Albiol, Martinez, Cazorla, Thiago, Navas, Negredo and Llorente would all be regular squad members and some would probably make the first team.

Never mind their reserve players, Arteta was in the studio, and he would be England Captain

Italy beat the Spanish first team fairly convincingly so i doubt the second team could.

I think they would be in with a big shout against everyone bar Germany and Holland.

Germany are my shout for the Euros.

Of course they could, it's not who plays but how they play and England couldn't beat an egg because they don't understand international football.
They are in the second tier of European International football so I think Spain's second XI could comfortably beat them.

sadly i think spain 2nd xi could beat us

Have to agree cricketfan.

England are a second-tier international footballing nation now.

I'd put Spain, Italy, Germany and Netherlands in Europe's top echelon, along with Brazil and Argentina on the world stage.

We now rank alongside the likes of France, Russia, Ukraine and Sweden, Portugal and Norway.

Dyre, you're forgetting about Uruguay.

in all honesty, i think ukraine and norway are the 3rd tier.

100%, Spain are different class. They should try teaching over here the way they do over there!

A Fine Folk. wrote:100%, Spain are different class. They should try teaching over here the way they do over there!

they must be doing something right over there

I fully expect ANY Spain side to thrash England to bits n pieces.

It's not hard to know that England are a soft bunch of girls at times and Spain will take full advantage of that.

For the last 5 years Spain have been getting better and better and have a camaraderie that is very special, something we should have!

Because so many of you prefer club football to your own national side....we simply won't get better.

But the real question is, could England's second XI beat Spain? Answer = yes.

The sound of humble pie being munched furiously is quite deafening

We've beaten BOTH England and Spain.

Northern Ireland > England and Spain.

I wouldn't say so, that was Spain's 4th defeat in friendlies since the World Cup, they've had 4 put past them twice v Argentina and Portugal.
But when it matters they turn it on, in the Euro Qualifiers a 100% record, 26 goals for, 6 against.

Hero wrote:I wouldn't say so, that was Spain's 4th defeat in friendlies since the World Cup, they've had 4 put past them twice v Argentina and Portugal.
But when it matters they turn it on, in the Euro Qualifiers a 100% record, 26 goals for, 6 against.

Totally agree. One poster tipped them to struggle at the Euro's on the basis that they play with no width. They are still the best side in the world for my money.

hero we know how good spain is,thats not the point is it. truth is though they have been beaten by top teams since the WC win- the qualifying groups- allthough more important are of far lesser opposition- than england/italy/portugal and argentina!!!

They are the best team in the world but as anyone should understand- spain are not unbeatable- far from it!

Great thread.

Scottrf wrote:Great thread.

Even better input.