GROUP H/Chile v Spain:FERNANDO TORRES will get another chance to kick-start his World Cup finals campaign when Spain take on Chile in Pretoria this evening but the much coveted Arsenal midfielder, Cesc Fabregas, looks likely to start on the bench again as the European champions seek to avoid following France and Italy out of the competition before the knockout stages are even under way.
Given their status in the Premier League, it might seem unthinkable that the pair find themselves slightly peripheral to the team's campaign so far. As the tournament unfolds, they are at the centre of two of the summer's biggest transfer stories with Fabregas apparently on the verge of a move back to Barcelona, while Torres is being linked with a handful of clubs, including Chelsea and Manchester City.
Here, though, neither can be sure of a regular starting spot in the Spanish starting line-up, although Torres does look to keep his place this evening as manager Vicente del Bosque fends off criticism from back home, not least from predecessor Luis Aragones, for not having shown enough ambition in his selection for the Switzerland game last week.
Aragones sought to use Torres alongside David Villa in all the important games of the 2008 finals, although the experience wasn't an entirely a happy one for the Liverpool striker who was regularly outshone by his more prolific partner up front.
Torres, though, ended up stealing the limelight when Villa missed the final with a thigh strain and the manager decided to bring Fabregas into his starting line-up instead of a second striker. The then 24-year-old scored the only goal of the night against Germany to go down in the history books as the player who ended Spain's 44-year wait for a second major international title. Villa still walked away with the Golden Boot and remains a more prolific figure for his country, averaging two goals in every three international games (40 in 60) compared to roughly one in every three for his team-mate.
And while Torres has endured a frustrating season at Anfield, where niggling injuries disrupted his campaign and limited him to, by his standards, a disappointing 22 goals in all competitions, it is on the international stage that his real problems lie.
Spain cruised to these finals, winning all 10 of their qualifying games and scoring 28 goals but the Liverpool striker, despite featuring in as many games as Villa (seven) and playing not far off as many games as the newly signed Barcelona striker, failed to find the net even once - his strike in the 6-0 warm-up match defeat of Poland was, in fact, his first international goal since that night in Vienna - while the 28-year-old was the team's leading contributor with seven.
On Monday night in Ellis Park, Torres looked desperately short on confidence and it cannot have helped to have been hauled off by Del Bosque while Villa was left to chase, a little greedily at times, a hat-trick that he should have completed from the penalty spot before Torres had departed.
The pair will certainly start together again this evening as the Spanish look to secure the win they need to be sure of a place in the next round and, ideally, one big enough to ensure they finish as group winners and so, most likely, avoid Brazil in the first knockout round.
Villa, as it happens, is fortunate to be featuring after Fifa decided not to pursue him for slapping Honduran opponent Emilio Izaguirre across the face in the 2-0 win earlier this week.
The striker's action went unnoticed by the referee but he admitted afterwards it had been "instinctive" and resolved to maintain better self-control in future.
The incident was caught on TV but Fifa's disciplinary panel decided there was not the basis to take any further action and so he escapes a ban.
Fabregas, meanwhile, seems unfortunate to be sitting out most of the group stages of a major championship again but does look set to start on the bench again this evening.
Del Bosque is set to alter the look of his midfield but it will only be to accommodate Andreas Iniesta, who returns from injury after missing the second group game.
Chile, who need only a draw to go through, have two key players suspended; holding midfielder Carlos Carmona, who played well in their first two games, and playmaker Matias Fernandez.
Rodrigo Millar is likely to come back in for Carmona and Jorge Valdivia is expected to replace Fernandez, playing just behind Humberto Suazo.
The South Americans have managed just one draw in seven meetings with the Spanish over the years but they will take heart from the fact that the European champions had never lost to Switzerland before last week.
"On Monday night in Ellis Park, Torres looked desperately short on confidence
Top scorers
Gonzalo Higuain (Arg) 3
Robert Vittek (Slovakia) 3
Diego Forlan (Uru) 2
Samuel Eto'o (Cam) 2
David Villa (Spa) 2
Asamoah Gyan (Gha) 2
Keisuke Honda (Jap) 2
Lee Jung-soo (South Kor) 2
Brett Holman (Aus) 2
Landon Donovan (US) 2
Kalu Uche (Nig) 2
Luis Fabiano (Bra) 2
Elano (Bra) 2
Tiago (Por) 2
