Spain plotting another winning streak, says Torres

Liverpool hitman Fernando Torres has warned that Spain plan to start building another lengthy winning streak, starting on Sunday against South Africa.

The European champions saw their 15-match unbeaten record brought to an end by the United States in the Confederations Cup semi-finals and Torres said they would bounce back in the third-place playoff on Sunday.

“What hurts most is going out in the semi-finals of a big competition, not the end of the run,” the blond-haired striker told fifa.com.

“We knew that we couldn’t possibly win every single game from now to the end of our careers and that the run would have to come to an end some day.

“We just didn’t expect it to be here in South Africa, but that’s the way it is. These things happen when you least expect them.”

Torres said Sunday’s match in Rustenburg was an opportunity to show the shock loss against the United States was just a blip on the road to the World Cup next year.

“When you lose a game and you’ve got a lot of players who can barely remember the last time it happened, then it shows that you’re on the right track,” he said.

“In fact, I’d rather this happen now than at the 2010 World Cup.

“We have to go back to square one now and start putting some more wins together.

“The most important thing now is that we keep on showing the same down-to-earth approach as we did when we went all that time unbeaten.

“The really big challenges are only just beginning.”

South Africa are in the third-place playoff after losing 1-0 to Brazil on Thursday in the other semi-final.