Paraguay will have trouble stopping Spain

Soccer Betting Lines

07/02/2010 - Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain coach Vincente del Bosque admitted a few days ago "it's difficult to stop us" when we're in top form, so Paraguay faces a huge challenge Saturday in the FIFA World Cup quarterfinals.

Spain entered the World Cup with just one loss in its last 48 games, and since starting the tournament with a 1-0 defeat to Switzerland, has regained the form that resulted in a Euro 2008 title.

The Spaniards topped Portugal in the round of 16, 1-0, to advance to the final eight for the fourth time in the last seven World Cups. Now, Spain will try to get back to the semifinals for the first time since 1950.

Spain has never won the World Cup, but arrived in South Africa as the favorite - even ahead of Brazil. Although Spain struggled in its opener, it has cruised through the rest of its matches with wins over Honduras, Chile and Portugal.

"This is a team that wants to make history and we'll just have to wait and see if luck's on our side," Del Bosque said.

David Villa has four of Spain's five goals and assisted on the other. He would be alone atop the scoring list if not for a missed penalty kick against Honduras.

Villa also scored against Chile and scored the match-winner in the second half against Portugal.

"We have a lot of confidence in ourselves and in our potential," Villa said.

Paraguay defeated Japan in penalty kicks, 5-3, after the teams played to a 0-0 draw through 120 minutes. Paraguay, among four South American teams to reach the final eight, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in their history.

Although Paraguay wasn't impressive in the group stage, it managed to end atop the standings with a win over Slovakia and draws against Italy and New Zealand.

Paraguay's offense has betrayed coach Gerardo Martino, as the team hasn't been able to score in their last two games. However, he's obviously thrilled to get his team through the opening stage of the knockout round.

"We've taken another step forward, but we've not achieved our goals yet. Let's hope we can recover quickly and keep making history," Martino said.

Antolin Alcaraz, Cristian Riveros and Enrique Vera each have one goal for the Paraguayans - or one less combined than Villa - but winning ugly has worked in the World Cup before.

Paraguay will need an even better defensive effort in the quarterfinal against Spain, which features one of the most dynamic teams in the world, but the team is confident, according to forward Lucas Barrios.

"The team's doing really well," Barrios said, "we're very united and we can go further."

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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