The Spanish duo who played a key role in Barcelona this season is expected to lead Spain when they meet up with Bafana in Bloemfontein on the 17th June 2009.

Steenbok was speaking to kaizerchiefs.com following Barcelona’s convincing victory against Manchester United in Rome on Wednesday night.

“The two guys (Xavi and Iniesta) compliment each other, they have very good understanding of the game and they are tactically sound,” he said.

“In the modern game you can see the importance of tactical freedom, if you look at the goal Messi scored it was as a result of Xavi going up. One of the things I observed about the two players is their tactical organization in the defensive distances. They are also well conditioned, Xavi ran 11, 36 km in that game and that will be key for Spain,”

“Franco Baresi” as Walter is known in football circles is confident Bafana Bafana can still surprise Spain, “We need to get our organization right and we remain compact in the midfield where Spain have proved to be dangerous. We need to recycle the ball well and supply our key personnel, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Teko Modise and Steven Pienaar. Players like Kagiso Dickgacoi can bring the best out of our key players just like Xavi, Iniesta have done to Henry, Eto and Messi.”

Meanwhile, Steenbok believes that key to the victory of Barcelona on Wednesday night was the way they have ‘preserved their artistic heritage’.

“It is easy to see that the team that won the European Champions League on Wednesday is playing the same style of football to the team that won the same cup in 2006,” noted Steenbok.

“They played one touch football to produce one versus one situations. They also kept possession of the ball and that gave them dominance. I also noticed that they pay attention on recruitment and the characteristics of players that they recruit to feed their positions.

There was also what is referred to as ‘tactical surprise’ when Leo Messi instead of Henry or Eto become the lone striker upfront coming from deep. This created more problems for United.

They missed three players last night but players like Puyol fitted like hand to glove on the positions they played in. The game also demonstrated the importance of conditioning in top football as Xavi ran 11, 36 km with Michael Carrick only making 10, 36 km,” he concluded.