The debate about whether Fernando Torres should be in Spain’s World Cup starting lineup in the semifinal against Germany continued apace on Monday.
The Liverpool striker has started all of Spain’s matches in South Africa — except in the debut defeat against Switzerland, when he came on after an hour — but has looked slow and sluggish, without fitness, rhythm or confidence.
The struggling 26-year-old Torres has not yet scored in the World Cup and has never come close to finding the net.
In the Round of 16 clash against Portugal, Torres was replaced by Fernando Llorente after an hour. The Spanish attack improved without Torres — and David Villa scored the winning goal.
Against Paraguay in the quarterfinals, Torres again got the starting nod from coach Vicente del Bosque but again looked out of sorts. He was replaced after another fruitless hour by Fabregas — and Villa’s winning goal soon came.
Now the question is whether Torres should start in Wednesday’s semifinal against Germany.
An online poll taken by Madrid sports daily Marca showed on Monday that 75.2 per cent of readers think he should not. Marca suggested that Del Bosque should start with either David Silva, who has not played since the Switzerland fiasco, or Fabregas.
A similar poll taken by AS showed that 67 per cent of readers think Torres should not start against Germany.
AS held a massive debate about Torres on Monday. One columnist, Manolo Lama, argues that it is “a lack of respect” to question Torres’ first-choice status, and that the Germans are “afraid of him” because of his winning goal against them in the Euro 2008 final.
Lama also claimed that Torres “opens up important spaces for Villa, who takes advantage of all his hard work”. — DPA