Spain defends its "right to lose" (Feature)

By Sebastian Fest Jun 26, 2009, 18:08 GMT

Bloemfontein, South Africa - Every cloud has a silver lining: striker Fernando Torres believes Spain's defeat against the United States is actually useful ahead of the World Cup, while teammate Carlos Marchena insisted on Spain's 'right to lose.'

'We drew very positive conclusions from the World Cup in Germany that helped us for the Euro, and the defeat against the United States helps us ahead of the World Cup (in South Africa),' said Torres.

The Spanish striker leads the scorers' table at the Confederations Cup with three goals, the same as compatriot David Villa and Brazilian Luis Fabiano.

Marchena denied that the evident mistakes made by Joan Capdevila and Sergio Ramos in the two US goals indeed caused the defeat.

'You don't lose a match over two mistakes. There are 90 minutes, and there is time to mend two mistakes and more,' the defender stressed.

'You can never take things individually,' the Valencia player said. 'We are not bad over two mistakes or more. We lost against a good team. Every team has a right to lose.'

When asked whether it motivates him to be the tournament's top scorer, Torres insisted that Spain;s players are 'a team.' Like Marchena, he praised the United States over their performance Wednesday.

'I think they did things 100 per cent perfect, because they played a perfect game in every aspect, we have to congratulate them.'

Spain are set to play South Africa Sunday in Rustenburg, in a game for third place that they were not exactly planning on, but that they ended up in after their unexpected 2-0 loss to the United States in Bloemfontein late Wednesday.

Vicente del Bosque's men had accumulated 35 matches without a loss and a winning streak of 15 games before crashing to the United States. European champions a year ago, Spain lead the FIFA rankings, and they were billed as the favourites to carry their second title in 12 months.

Daniel Gueiza, who barely played a few minutes in the tournament so far, was hoping to be a starter against South Africa.

'If I have the chance I am going to go all out for it, that's clear. If not, I will keep waiting and working so that the coach can keep bringing me over and I can keep enjoying this national team,' the Fenerbahce striker said.

Spain players watched late Thursday Brazil's tight 1-0 win over South Africa, and they think the United States stand a chance to win the tournament when they play the winners of five editions of the World Cup Sunday.

'Of course, they have options, as does Brazil,' Torres said.

'At such an important moment being the favourite is worth little. They will play a very attack-oriented game, like they did against us,' the striker said.