SPAIN WINS 2-1 BUT CHILE PLAYS THE MORE ENTERPRISING FOOTBALL
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 26 Jun 2010
European champions Spain regarded as one of the top favorites in the 2010 FIFA World Cup hardly looked like champions as Chile dominated the first 20 minutes of a match in which the Chileans played some wonderfully enterprising football and only fell behind when some unnecessary rugged tackles cost the sending off of Marco Estrada which, in the end, appeared to be a little harsh.
Spain eventually sat on a 2-1 lead but narrowly escaped when Chile, despite playing with ten men, almost pulled off an equalizer in the second half when Spain decided to play the numbers and keep possession.
Despite the defeat, Chile advanced to the knockout round of 16 where they will face one of the top favorites Brazil while Spain will take on Portugal in what could be a mouth-watering match for those who enjoy attractive, attacking football.
Goals as expected from their two most potent scorers David Villa and Andres Iniesta together with Estrada's dismissal seemed to settle the issue in the first half alone but a cracking slightly deflected strike by Rodrigo Millar gave the South Americans a new lease on life in a game they were eager to win to assure themselves of a place in the knockout phase. In the end it wasn?t necessary as Switzerland failed to beat Honduras and helped Marcelo Bielsa's team advance to the next phase. Anguish was written all over the faces of the Chile team when the final whistle blew because they didn?t know the results of the Switzerland-Honduras match but once they learned it was a draw, their faces lit up.
The match was telecast "live" on the SkyCable "Balls" Channel 34 and replayed at midnight on Studio 23.
The F IFA match report said a capacity crowd at Loftus Versfeld Stadium anticipated a beguiling duel between two football teams, whose players swiftly began satisfying those expectations. Chile's Alexis Sanchez drew gasps from the spectators with an eye-catching drag-back, while Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta served notice of his return to fitness and form by nonchalantly side-stepping two opponents and freeing Villa.
The contest's first chance fell to Fernando Torres, who raced in behind the Chile defence but, under pressure inside the area, blazed over. A better one then fell to Mark Gonzalez. Jean Beausejour squared the ball across goal and, although it was marginally behind the 25-year-old winger, he will have been disappointed at his failure to get a decent connection on a close-range shot.
Chile continued to push the pace until the 24th minute. That was when the Europeans took the lead. And that was when Villa became the first Spaniard to reach ten goals in major international competitions. Xabi Alonso started the move, robbing Jorge Valdivia of possession and launching the ball forward. Torres gave chase, outstripping the last Chilean defender and forcing Claudio Bravo to race from his line and, while sliding, divert the ball away from the Liverpool striker's path. Unfortunately for the Real Sociedad goalkeeper, his clearance dropped into the path of another clinical Spaniard and Villa, from 40 yards, duly curled the ball into the unguarded net.
Thirteen minutes later, Spain moved into a two-goal lead. Alonso carried the ball through the midfield and fed Villa, who broke into the area and, after drawing two opponents to him, cut the ball back for Iniesta to effortlessly pass it into the bottom-left corner of Bravo's goal. The referee, Marco Rodriguez, then red-carded Estrada, who had tripped Torres as he was galloping into the penalty area seconds before the goal.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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