Azerbaijan v Spain Live

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Spain will be looking to test their final line-up in the friendly this Tuesday against Azerbaijan. The European Champions are looking towards South Africa, but Vincent del Bosque's team certainly will take the opportunity presented in a friendly to make some last minute changes. They have an unbeaten record here that goes back two years, and will enter the match with Azerbaijan with full confidence in their ability to dominate. Azerbaijan just finished with a game against Turkey, where they were beaten 2-0, so they may not be at their best right now, regardless.

Several important players are suffering from injuries, such as Carlos Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Marcos Senna, who is out for the entire season, but this is only a friendly and it will allow del Bosque to try out some players that he may not have selected had he been equipped with his entire squad. Some of the players that are likely to be taking the field are Ramos, Xavi, Casillas, Febregas and Fernando Torres. 

Spain's opponents will likely need a miracle to come out ahead in this game, as Spain is currently number one, and Azerbaijan just finished getting beat by Turkey 2-0 in a friendly, with Azerbaijan being cut down to ten players when Sadygov got in Senturk's way in the penalty area and got sent off, but then showed a little more competitiveness when the penalty goal was saved. Before the Turkey game, Azerbaijan again lost 2 to nothing in a World Cup Qualifier, this time to Russia, leaving them in fifth place in their group, with little or no chance to qualify for South Africa in 2010.

All odds are that Spain will dominate this game, after beating pretty much all of Europe in Qualifiers, and will likely use this friendly against Azerbaijan as a warm-up to South Africa. They may face some stiff competition upon arriving at the World Cup with Brazil and Italy putting up quite a fight, but are still considered favorites to win. The most important factor will be no other Spanish players suffering injuries. 

If you want to watch Spain and Azerbaijan live, you can get your membership by clicking on any of the links on this page. The game happens on Tuesday, June 9^th 2009.