Villa and now Puyol...Spain road is bumpy

After Villa broke his leg earlier this year, now his fellow Spain and Barcelona teammates Puyol will be out of the Euros due to injuries. Add this to the fact that Torres is only slowly finding his form and the challenge for Spain at Poland/Ukraine has only become more daunting. For all the talent and depth for Spain, two of spots they cannot really afford to lose starters is at center back and forward.

Spain's goal scoring option?

Up front Spain should look to Fernando Llorente from Athletic Bilbao, The Lion King has been a huge reason behind Athletic's success. Especially during Europa League. Torres has started to show some of his goal scoring form again, while I would not expect to see the Torres of 4 years ago he might regain enough of his form to contribute for Espana. The real question is who can slot in next to Pique. You might see Real Madrid right back and center back Ramos slotted to the center, but that would take away an offensive option on the right side of the defense. A secondary effect would be the fact that Puyol and Pique are teammates for both club and country, this partnership was key for Spain's success. If Ramos is to slot back to the center of the defense, it will be interesting to see how the Real and Barcelona players would partner as well as the right side of the defense.

Winning back to back international titles is difficult - winning three has never been done. That daunting challenge only became more difficult for the current World and European Champions.