Del Bosque: Brazil the team to beat

The coach of Spain’s world champions on Friday insisted hosts Brazil are the team to beat at next year’s Confederations Cup, the testbed for a World Cup also on Brazilian soil in 2014. “They are the team to beat,” said Vicente del Bosque, who masterminded Spain’s World Cup success in 2010 in South Africa and then led the Furia Roja to glory at Euro 2012, making his star-studded side the first national team to land three straight international tournaments having also won Euro 2008. “Friendlies or competitive matches — we will always look to perform at the highest level,” said former Real Madrid coach del Bosque, who said he would be looking to field his strongest side in Brazil next June even though the tournament is a chance to blood some new faces a year out from the next World Cup. “This is a big challenge after our World Cup and Euro successes — we find ourselves in an historic period for Spanish football and we want to continue in this vein at the Confederations Cup and also qualifiers thereafter for 2014,” said del Bosque at a press conference in Sao Paulo. Del Bosque, who is up against Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola for the FIFA accolade of best coach of the year — to be awarded in Zurich in January — added that the Spanish recipe was nothing out of the ordinary but rather “a balance between talent, technique and tactics.” The 61-year-old added he is on a personal mission next June to do better than the 2009 Confederations Cup which saw Spain take a disappointing third place in South Africa before they returned a year later to win the world title. “That left a bad taste — so we shall come here next year as well prepared as possible.” Asked if he thought he was the man for the coach of the year del Bosque said: “It is impossible to say who is the best manager. Results are down to the team.”