Fernando Torres looks likely to miss Spain's opening World Cup match against Switzerland, but Andres Iniesta should be able to start after returning to regular training yesterday. Iniesta, the Barcelona midfielder, who hurt his right thigh muscle last week, worked out with his teammates for the first half hour and took part in a simulated game. "Iniesta could play against Switzerland," Vicente del Bosque, the Spain coach, said ahead of the Group H opener in Durban on Wednesday.
Torres, who scored in Spain's last warm-up game against Poland on Wednesday, was on a comeback trail following surgery on his right knee in April. He, however, remains a question mark for the European champions. "I don't think Torres will play the first game but he's not been discarded yet," said Del Bosque, who will go with David Villa fronting a five-man midfield. Cesc Fabregas, another Spain injury concern, told a post-training news conference yesterday that his recovery from a cracked bone in his leg was proceeding well.
"Every day I'm getting better and stronger," said the Arsenal midfielder, who missed the end of the Premier League season. "I am feeling really confident and I can almost say that I am 100 per cent." Cristiano Ronaldo said he is not concerned about his scoring drought with Portugal. The world's most expensive player has not hit the net for Portugal for 16 months now, failing to score in the World Cup qualifiers, but he is not worried.
"Goals, as a football legend once told me, are like ketchup," Ronaldo told reporters yesterday, without specifying who was the source of the comparison. "Sometimes as much as you try, they don't come out, and when they come, many come all at same time." Portugal fans will be hoping he ends that dry spell in tomorrow's Group G opener against the Ivory Coast in Port Elizabeth. "I hope so too ... I've been working as hard as usual, and it is God that knows who works and deserves it, so in that sense I am completely tranquil," he added.
* Agencies
