By Iain Rogers
MADRID, March 23 (Reuters) - Fernando Torres was given a
medal of honour by his home town of Fuenlabrada on Tuesday for
his sporting achievements but it is really goals and not awards
the misfiring Spain striker is in need of right now.
He failed to find the net during the World Cup in South
Africa last year and has scored only two goals for the world and
European champions since, a double against lowly Liechtenstein
in a Euro 2012 qualifier in Vaduz in September.
The 27-year-old, joint fifth on the list of Spain's leading
scorers with 26 goals, has also been struggling for form at his
new club Chelsea, failing to open his account in seven
appearances since joining from Liverpool in January.
Torres has a chance to get back among the goals when Spain
play their Euro 2012 qualifiers against Czech Republic in
Granada on Friday and Lithuania in Kaunas four days later as the
Group I leaders look to take a big step towards securing their
place at the finals in Poland and Ukraine next year.
"The difficult thing is to learn to win at the national
level," Torres told reporters in Fuenlabrada near Madrid on
Tuesday.
"A lot of the time when you are successful you ease off but
luckily there is an aim, which is to win consecutive European,
world and European championships," he added.
"Nobody has ever achieved that. What we want to do is make
history, it's what we have in mind and winning these next two
games would almost put us in the finals."
He said he was not worried by his goal drought at club
level.
"As in all things it takes time at the start but I am
satisfied because the team (Chelsea) is winning," he said.
"I am waiting for the first goal, like all Chelsea fans,
with desire but not with anxiety."
NEW FACES
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is missing injured trio
Carles Puyol, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro for the two qualifiers and
has brought in forward Juan Mata, midfielder Javi Martinez and
defender Andoni Iraola as cover.
Striker David Villa has another chance to become Spain's
leading scorer in his own right. He is level with Raul on 44
goals, although he has played 71 times for his country compared
to the former Real Madrid forward's 102 games.
Czech coach Michal Bilek included two new faces in his squad
for Friday's match and the qualifier at home to Liechtenstein on
March 29.
Forward Libor Kozak has been in decent form for Lazio this
season, while goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik plays in the country's
second division for FC Viktoria Zizkov.
Bilek also selected David Lafata, who has hit two hat-tricks
for FK Jablonec in their first three league matches since the
winter break, and the experienced Milan Baros returns having
last featured in September against Lithuania.
The coach said Spain were the world's best team but were not
invincible, as friendly defeats to Argentina and Portugal in the
second half of last year and the 1-0 loss to Switzerland at the
World Cup proved.
"They are beatable from time to time, it is possible to
achieve a reasonable result against them," Bilek said at a news
conference on Monday.
"We need to tighten up the space in our own half and make it
impossible for their key players to pass the ball. We will aim
for quick counter-attacks after winning possession."
Probable teams:
Spain: Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Carlos
Marchena, Joan Capdevila; Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets,
Andres Iniesta; David Villa, Fernando Torres.
Czech Republic: Petr Cech; Zdenek Pospech, Roman Hubnik,
Tomas Sivok, Michal Kadlek; Jan Polak, Tomas Huebschman, Tomas
Rosicky, Jaroslav Plasil, Adam Hlousek; Milan Baros.
(Additional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague)
(Editing by xxxxxx; To query or comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
