Spain and Bolivia are playing a World Cup friendly match on Friday ahead of the Brazil 2014 tournament and the Spanish team comes in as defending champions and the game starts up at 4 pm ET and 10 pm local time with a stream from ESPN3 and WatchESPN and comes live from the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan as the team prepares to defend their title.
Spain comes into the game on Friday with momentum after winning their last friendly against Italy, another World cup team and now they play against Bolivia before a final matchup in June with El Salvador. Spain was very good in qualifying and they won over a number of teams, but they did lose the Confederations Cup to Brazil and that will be big for the host nation of the tournament.
The Spanish team is still making roster moves and Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said that Diego Costa will likely be part of it despite injuries. Costa comes in after dealing with a hamstring injury and he has been in the middle of a major pull over the past couple years, as he is from Brazil but is playing for the Spanish national team. Costa ended up playing for Atletico Madrid at the end of the La Liga season despite the hammy and now it looks like he will be fit enough to play in the World Cup.
Bolivia is not much of a test since the team did not qualify for the World Cup and they are ranked 71st by FIFA, but it will give the Spanish team a chance to get a look at the roster before the final cut downs and the manager said that 17 of the 19 players should get time on Friday night. David de Gea and Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Iturraspe will likely play, while Gerard Deulofeu could be in the mix if an injury happens.
The team comes in and is getting ready for their matchup and now they will play against Bolivia before one more match and then they will face the Netherlands in Brazil. The team has Chile and Australia also in their group and that means they basically are guaranteed to be moving on from the group stages. Brazil will be through as well and Spain is a favorite once again to win.
The tournament this year could be wide open behind Spain, as teams like France and England are looking to bounce back after bad campaigns last time around and the United States is expected to be a tough out as well. The US is in the group of death and many have written about how hard it will be for the US, but the national team also will give teams some fits, as Germany, Portugal and Ghana do not want to play the US either. Portugal will be led by Cristiano Ronaldo and he is looking to have a big tournament, while Jurgen Klinsmann will face off against his old German team.
Check here for the Spain and Bolivia World Cup match friendly ahead of the Brazil 2014 tournament.