Spain keen to finish top, Northern Ireland keen to win

Spain, which booked the ticket to its fourth successive Euro finals by thrashing Sweden 3-0 in Madrid on Saturday, needs just one point from the match to finish top of the qualifying group F.

 Northern Ireland, for their part, need to beat the Spaniards and hope that minnows Latvia win away to Sweden if they want to make the finals in Austria and Switzerland.

 Spain have 25 points, Sweden 23 and Northern Ireland 20.

 Veteran coach Luis Aragones - who hinted on Saturday that he will quit after the finals - is expected to experiment, with two or three changes for Wednesday's game.

 Espanyol pair Albert Riera and Raul Tamudo might be drafted in up front, to the detriment of Valencia couple David Albelda and David Silva. Mallorca striker Daniel Guiza could earn his first cap in the second half.

 Otherwise, Aragones will stick by the men who have made Spain the form team of 2007, with nine wins, two draws and no defeats.

 Andres Iniesta - who scored his fourth international goal of the year against Sweden - said "it will be a good time to try and play some good football with the objective of qualifying already obtained, and with the possibility of winning to finish first in the group."

   Fellow-midfielder Albelda said that "we are in our best moment, as much in attack as in defence...It will be important to continue in this vein of form and go into the European Championships with confidence high."

   Northern Ireland flew out to Gran Canaria on Monday more in hope than expectation, knowing that it will be very hard to beat the rampant hosts - let alone snatch second place from Sweden.

 Coach Nigel Worthington will be without veteran winger Keith Gillespie, suspended after picking up his second booking in Saturday's defiant 2-1 win over Denmark.

 Worthington, who has done a good job since taking over from Lawrie Sanchez in April, said on Sunday that "we will do our best to beat Spain, and then hope that Sweden slip up against Latvia."

   He was full of praise for striker David Healy, who became the record scorer in a European Championship qualifying campaign after netting his 13th goal in the 2-1 win over Denmark.

 "To score 13 in the campaign, David deserves all the accolades he gets," said Worthington.

 At least 500 Northern Ireland fans are planning to fly out to Las Palmas and cheer on their team, hoping for a repeat of their shock 1-0 win in Valencia against hosts Spain in the 1982 World Cup.