Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque is facing calls to replace striker Fernando Torres with Fernando Llorente for Saturday's quarter-final with Paraguay.
Media polls of fans in Spain have shown backing for a switch in attack but Del Bosque is still backing Torres to come good.
It's impossible to avoid such a debate at a tournament like this because everyone has an opinion and it's good that they are expressed, said Del Bosque.
Our forward at the moment is Fernando (Torres). He has played a part in all four matches, quite a few minutes, and he'll play more.
We have full confidence in him and we also know that Fernando Llorente can bring a lot to the team, he added.
Llorente certainly has shown more verve than Torres, who came into the tournament not long after knee surgery, and brought extra life to the attack after replacing him in the 1-0 second-round win...

KARACHI: Pakistan’s legendary former captain Imran Khan spoke out in support of Shahid Afridi on Friday, saying the all-rounder should be given a long innings to stabilise a team hit by controversy.

“Afridi should be given a long run as Pakistan captain,” Khan told AFP, saying that frequent rotations at the top destablise the team.

“Since I retired in 1992, Australia has had only three captains while Pakistan has had more than two dozen and that is why there is a big difference between Pakistan and Australia.”

Facing a captaincy crisis after Younis Khan stepped down and Mohammad Yousuf was sacked, Pakistan on Tuesday appointed Afridi captain for next month’s Asia Cup and a subsequent tour of England.

Khan said Afridi, already leading Pakistan in the Twenty20 format since last year, was the only real...

The ICC Cricket Committee, after its annual meeting at Lord's, has recommended that the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) be implemented in the 2011 Word Cup in the subcontinent and introduced as soon as possible in all Test series. The committee, chaired by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, also decided to revisit laws that were pitted against the fielding side: it said the practice of the non-striker backing up while the ball was being delivered should be discouraged, as should batsmen changing their grip before the bowler entered his delivery stride.
The most significant decision concerned the UDRS, whose implementation since its introduction in July 2008 has been inconsistent in terms of series where it has been used. Now, though, the ICC committee has called for it to be introduced as soon as possible in all Test series. It has also recommended that the system be used throughout next year's World Cup in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, with the same limit of two referrals per innings as in Tests.
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