Spain to test England's patience and stamina

ANOTHER Saturday and another Wembley afternoon kicks off another weekend in Euro 96. Everything changes, but somehow it all stays the same. England expects and all that, and this time Spain threaten to be engulfed in the tide of patriotic fervour with which the hosts have built up quite a momentum.

There is a wider picture, there is a tournament going on which still involves another seven teams, but the host country can't see it. Javier Clemente's team are merely there to make up the numbers. Indeed at times it seems as if everyone else is. There are, of course, three other quarter finals' this weekend. A nicely varied bunch as well, as the tempo of the tournament moves up a gear.

No more draws, not even the certainty of a full 30 minutes' extra time, for UEFA have crassly introduced "Sudden Death": the first goal in additional time ends the tie. Foul, not fair, play by UEFA.

Part of the beauty of extra time as we knew it was the prospect of twists and turns in the ensuing plot. Now there'll be no twists. Just sudden death. Like that. Over.

Like kids in a sweet shop, and with a similar vision, they keep tampering with the best game in the world. They can't leave it alone. Even penalty shoot outs might be preferable, and one senses they will now become more inevitable than ever.

If this match were played in a public park in front of two men and a dog, then England wouldn't appear to have an inherent advantage over Spain, particularly if it went to extra time. But home advantage has become just that, though initially it threatened to be the opposite amid earlier media hostility to Terry Venables's team.

David Seaman has been inspired, those back from injury (such as Tony Adams and Darren Anderton) are improving all the while and Alan Shearer looks as good a finisher as Juergen Klinsmann or Davor Suker.

Venables has struck on the right blend by releasing Steve McManaman from his pigepnhole on the left. At times against the Swiss and the Scots, but particularly against the Dutch, England have never looked so fluid, varying from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2, thanks in the main to Gareth Southgate's ability to switch from central defence to midfield or to the left of three at the back.

That all of this has been achieved by the same starting If now raises doubts as to whether Venables has the cover to maintain their tactical flexibility. No one does their midfield holding role quite like the suspended Paul Ince, whose absence may yet be compounded by injuries to Adams, Anderton and Shearer.

Jamie Redknapp and Steve Howey are already sidelined.

Clemente's Spain rarely employ the same starting 11, or system, two games running. Solid strong and workmanlike thus far Spain have demonstrated a willingness to run hard for 90 minutes (and beyond); Caminero equalised against France with five minutes left and Amor got their winner over Romania seven minutes from time.

Venables knows what to expect. "Their strength is their teamwork. Over five years he (Clemente) has been able to bring in young players who have taken his ideas on board and then developed them. They're a strong side to break down."

That will make it an awkward afternoon for England and all but 4,000 of a raucous 76,000 crow who expect more of the same as that which accounted for Holland by 4-1.

Spain will test England's patience and maybe their stamina. Unbeaten in 20 games since Roberto Baggio's heartbreaker in the last minute of the World Cup quarter final two years ago, they will afford England little space, unlike a Dutch side who ought to be ashamed of their defensively dilettant performance last Tuesday.

Their defender cum midfielder, Nadal, aka La Rock, of whom perhaps too much is made of his 210lb and 6ft 4in, seems to epitomise Clemente's energetic, no frills Spain. In the knock out stages, frills are usually required, but thus far there's been little evidence of them.

What's more, there has always been a mental question mark over travelling Spanish sides, especially at major finals, where they have invariably come up short since winning these championships in 1964.

Their wait, then, has been longer than England's, but this has become more than a football tournament over here; there's a force with England now and a sense of destiny that Spain were somehow set up for El Tel as a stepping stone to a semi final rendezvous with Germany.

It's hard to even explain. It doesn't even make that much sense anymore.