WORLD CUP 2010: Fernando Torres desperate to play in South Africa after dismal season with Liverpool

By Sportsmail Reporter Updated: 06:09 EDT, 14 May 2010

Fernando Torres faces an anxious waiting game to discover whether he will get the chance to light up the World Cup in a similar fashion to the way he did when he helped make Spain European champions two years ago.  

A second operation in three months in April sidelined the 26-year-old once again in a season which has been plagued not only by knee problems but a hernia injury was well.  

His return to full fitness is still some time away but it is inconceivable that coach Vicente Del Bosque will not leave it until the last minute to give Torres a chance to prove he can cope with the rigours of a month-long tournament.  

Different class: Fernando Torres still shone for Liverpool in an injury-hit campaign

The Liverpool striker is desperate to play at the World Cup after enduring a frustrating few months at Anfield on both a personal and club level.  

Rafa Benitez's side missed their star striker greatly when he was sidelined and that contributed to a number of disappointing performances which curtailed their Champions League and Barclays Premier League aspirations.  

And while Spain are not so reliant on Torres as Liverpool are, the player is keen to take out a season of frustration on international opponents in South Africa.  

Torres feels he has missed out on too many big matches already and his unavailability to face former club Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-finals last month, having been injured for the two clubs' Champions League encounters the previous year, hurt particularly badly.  

'It is true this season has been complicated by injuries. It's been difficult and a shame I've not been able to play more games and score more goals,' said Torres. 'It hasn't been perfect and the only thing now is to think about the prize of being in South Africa.

Champion: Torres hit the winner for Spain in the Euro 2008 final against Germany

'I need to be positive and think there is the World Cup to come, which is now the most important. You wait four years for it and if things go well I don't intend to miss it.'

Having scored the goal which clinched the European Championship title against Germany in Vienna in 2008 it seemed this World Cup would be the one when Torres put all his rivals in the shade.  

However, being generally acknowledged as currently the world's best striker and underlining that reputation against your contemporaries on the pitch are two different things.  

And despite being part of one of international football's most feared attacking partnerships with Valencia's David Villa, Torres has a lot of ground to make up as he races to hit full fitness before Spain's first match against Switzerland in Durban on June 16.  

 

The only up side of the former Atletico star's injury lay-offs this season is that he has had considerably less pitch time than most players at the tournament.  

So providing he can hone his razor-sharp goalscoring instincts before the big kick-off he will certainly be less jaded than those opponents who have a full league season behind them.  

But while he may be short on fitness there is no lack of confidence in a player who still managed to score 22 goals for Liverpool in a stop-start season.  

Torres said belief played a big part in Spain's Euro 2008 triumph, the country's first major trophy in 44 years, and has made them a better team since.  

'It doesn't matter how strong your starting XI is, when you get used to going out in the second round or quarter-finals it's very hard to break that cycle, even when you are the superior team,' he said. 

Deadly duo: Torres has formed a feared strike partnership with David Villa

'Look at the teams Spain have had over the past 10 to 20 years, but it was only two years ago we got past the quarter-finals and once we did that we won the thing.  

'When you constantly go out at that stage you start to believe you can't progress further and when you get into that frame of mind you have to break it mentally.  

'I believe Spain will win the tournament. That is the belief that the Euros gave us.'

Torres suggested England, with just one World Cup victory in their history, are suffering the same problem Spain did pre-2008.  

'People say that Spain have the best starting XI in the world, but when you look at England on paper, they have the second strongest XI in the world,' he added. 'It's hard to see a weakness in the England team. All they need to do now is break the mental barrier that going out at the quarter-final stage creates.'