Tuesday, 29th June 2010
The Pain in Spain
Spain vs Portugal
in Cape Town
There's nothing like a neighbourly challenge. Let's hope that it
lives up to expectations.
David Villa tested his shooting boots in the third minute. A couple of
minutes later, he stretched his running legs.
Then we were treated to the usual hands on hips from Cristiano
Ronaldo, when a free-kick wasn't given to him.
Iker Casillas flapped at a Tiago shot in the 20th minute but instantly
redeemed himself by palming the ball away from Hugo Almeida's head.
Casillas looked suspect again, eight minutes later, when he shovelled
at a Ronaldo free-kick.
Argentina's Hector Baldassi just shook his head and left Ronaldo
sitting on the floor again in the 35th minute. Ronaldo stayed on his feet four minutes
later, by not running into players on purpose. Instead, when the run came to a dead-end,
he just laid the ball back.
Casillas raced off his line shortly before the break, to make sure the
deadlock wasn't broken. If it keeps on like this, we could be in for a long evening.
Half-time: 0:0
Nothing too inspiring at the start of the second-half.
Third-time lucky for Casillas, as he watched a potential Spain
own-goal just bobble past his post; Almeida's low cross taking something of a looping
deflection off a defender.
Just a minute after coming on for Fernando Torres, Fernando Llorente
should have scored with a free header.
Spain looked more lively and after a series of combination passes
around the Portugal area, David Villa scored at the second attempt. The arrival of
Llorente has added the much-needed strength to the Spanish front line.
After a run down the right, Sergio Ramos came close to adding a second
for Spain seven minutes later. Then it was Villa's turn to try a long shot on the left.
With four minutes to go, Llorente glanced a header wide and then a
couple of minutes later his over-acting earned Ricardo Costa a red card. The man who came
on and started putting it about amongst the Portuguese defenders was seen rolling around
like a baby.
Final Score:
Spain 1 Portugal 0
 Goalscorers:
1:0 David Villa (63 mins)
Man of The Match:
David Villa - Keep on like this and he could be man of the tournament.
Teams
 Spain:
1 Iker Casillas; 11 Joan Capdevila, 5 Carles Puyol, 3 Gerard Piqué, 15 Sergio Ramos; 14
Xabi Alonso, 16 Sergio Busquets, 8 Xavi; 9 Fernando Torres, 7 David Villa, 6 Andres
Iniesta.
 Portugal:
1 Eduardo; 23 Fabio Coentrao, 2 Bruno Alves, 6 Ricardo Carvalho, 21 Ricardo Costa; 16
Raul Meireles, 15 Pepe, 19 Tiago; 18 Hugo Almeida, 11 Sim�o, 7 Cristiano Ronaldo.
Referee:
Hector Baldassi (Argentina)
Substitutions:
58 Mins (Portugal) - 10 Danny on for 18 Hugo Almeida
59 Mins (Spain) - 19 Fernando Llorente on for 9 Fernando Torres
72 Mins (Portugal) - 8 Pedro Mendes on for 15 Pepe
72 Mins (Portugal) - 9 Liedson on for 11 Simao
88 Mins (Spain) - 18 Pedro Rodriguez on for 7 David Villa
94 Mins (Spain) - 4 Carlos Marchena on for 14 Xabi Alonso
 2 Yellow
Cards:
74 Mins - Xabi Alonso (Spain)
80 Mins - Tiago (Portugal)
 1 Red Card:
89 Mins - Ricardo Costa (Portugal)
Previous Encounters:
Spain have the edge against Portugal; winning 15 and drawing 12 of their 32 games but this
is their first meeting at a World Cup Finals.
In European Championship Finals, Portugal beat Spain (1:0) in Lisbon at
Euro 2004 and drew (1:1) in Marseille at France 1984.
To the Quarter-final in Jo'burg Ellis Park.
2010 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
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