IF I were Vicente Del Bosque and not just an armchair columnist, I’d drop Fernando Torres for Fernando Llorente in the quarter-finals against Paraguay. It is hard to say whether Llorente, a player with little experience at this level, would be better starting (instead of Torres) against a Paraguay side, which must be feeling high on confidence after their penalty shoot-out win over Japan, but if I were Del Bosque I’d give it a go. Against Portugal, and with David Villa hanging out on the left, the waves of attacks through the middle kept breaking down on the feet of the Liverpool striker, who really should have been on the bench after what he has done in the first three games. But when the Athletic Bilbao player came on, his physical presence immediately bothered the Portuguese defence that up until then had everything going their way. Torres might even be better as a substitute, because by coming on against tiring defenders, his own lack of sharpness should be less evident. No player at this World Cup has been more productive than Barcelona’s new signing whose goal, his fourth of the tournament sent Spain into the quarterfinals. Ends
