Vicente Del Bosque’s team now 3/1 second favourites to win the World Cup ahead of quarter final against south Americans

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If Spain win the 2010 World Cup, nobody can accuse them of doing it the easy way. The European champions gave themselves a mountain to climb after losing their opening Group H match against Switzerland, although La Furia Roja showed tremendous character to bounce back and top the section.

After putting a defensively-minded Portugal to the sword in Cape Town, everything seems rosy in the Spanish garden once again and they arguably have an easier quarter final match than they did in the last sixteen. The bookies are prepared to offer no bigger than 1/2 (bet365) that Del Bosque’s fantastic team win in normal time.

The big question mark concerns the form / fitness of Fernando Torres, who began the Portugal game with a howitzer of a shot that tested Eduardo but was quickly marginalised by the opposition defence. It’s possible that Fernando Llorente will instead line up on Saturday evening and the Athletic Bilbao man is 6/1 (bet365) to open the scoring.

At half the odds on the First Goalscorer market is someone who has probably been the outstanding player of the tournament thus far. David Villa has been bordering on the unplayable in South Africa and it was the Barcelona man who found the breakthrough against Portugal. Paddy Power go 3/1 that he opens the scoring for the fourth match running.

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect this game to be totally comfortable for Spain, who spent much of Tuesday’s game frustrated by the Portuguese players crowding behind the ball, a tactic that Paraguay will almost certainly try to replicate. Ladbrokes offer 3/1 about a draw and No Goalscorer (13/2 Boylesports) could be an interesting bet if Gerardo Martino’s team can keep things tight in the early stages.

While it’s hard to see a Paraguay victory (7/1 William Hill), the same could be said about Switzerland on 16th June and look how that turned out. At the very least, it might be worth a bet on Draw HT Spain FT (7/2 Stan James). The European champions know that the opposition will tire throughout the match, especially with so little possession, so it might just be a case of playing the waiting game.

Martino will have to decide whether to stick with Roque Santa Cruz (12/1 William Hill) in attack, or instead opt for the more spritely pairing of Lucas Barrios (11/1 bet365) and Oscar Cardozo (12/1 William Hill). It was the latter’s penalty that sent the Paraguayans through against Japan and you can get 11/1 about the south Americans winning on spot kicks.