Spain is headed to Kyiv! After a 4-2 victory over the Portuguese in penalty kicks, Spain is going to their third major championship in the time of four years. Spain playing custom to its traditional pass-pass-pass game lead to a much more complicated game than expected. Portugal leveled Spain in every aspect of the game for 120 minutes, which forced the 2nd penalty shoot-out of the tournament.
By: Andres Saldana
Quick Overview
Spanish Coach Del Bosque again made an unpredicted line-up to his Spanish side with the inclusion of Neared as striker instead of Fernando Torres or even Fabregas for that matter. Honestly I would like to know why he did that, but I’m in no room to critique the Euro Cup and World Cup winning coach. Negredo proved to be very ineffective in regards to game impact other than one play in which he dumped the ball out to Arbeloa, only to have him slightly miss. Another play where he was involved was in the play where he passed it to Silva, who then passed it to Iniesta who then tried to finesse the shot into the upper corner but ultimately failing in the end. Negredo was subbed off for Fabregas (Min ’54). No striker was eventually subbed on for the Spanish side, but on the other hand, Portugal was fully armed and fully matched the Spanish side in terms of attempts on goals and tackles. Portuguese players that caused pressure and tussles were Pepe, Bruno Alves, and Hugo Almieda.
Spanish Line-up 4-5-1
Casillas, Piqué, Ramos, Arbeloa, Alba, Iniesta, Xavi, Alonso, Busquets, Silva, Negredo
Subs who came on: Pedro, Fabregas, Jesus Navas
Portugal Line-up 4-3-3
Patrício, Alves, Pepe, Coentrão, Pereira, Veloso, Moutinho, Meireles, Nani, Ronaldo, Almeida
Subs who came on: Custodio, Oliveira. Varela
Game Analysis
Immediately Portugal put Spain under pressure, with a dangerous corner and putting Casillas to the test. After that pressure was over the Spanish began to pick up its rhythm around the 5th minute leading to Spain’s 1st clear goal opportunity at about the 9th minute with a shot by Arbeloa which barely flew over the bar. Soon after this shot, Iniesta was found for another clear chance which he hit just a tad too high. This game was beginning to look like an all Spanish sided match. Indeed it turned out to not be, Portugal had forced Spain to play unorthodox to their traditional game. Portugal was constantly pressuring the Spanish side, forcing a couple of errors which would eventually lead to breakaways that seemed would end up in goal. IN fact, Ronaldo got a close opportunity around the 31st minute, after Iniesta had another opportunity to score. Ronaldo had shot but just nearly wide. The Spanish side was put under much pressure throughout the game, forcing Xavi to play a bad game. Nothing much was done in the first half, but here were some STATISTICS:
Portugal vs. Spain
4(1) SHOTS (on target) 3(0)
3 Corner Kicks 0
7 Fouls 9
1 Offside 0
1 Yellows 1
43% Possession 57%
The Second Half began just as the first half did, high pressure and intensity from both sides. Spain felt uncomfortable with this pressure that they had to sub on Fabregas for Negredo. The Portuguese were doing their job right, and play defensively with an occasional breakaway, except Almieda failed to not his clear opportunity at the 57th. Then began the Spanish Possession spell, which cooled the Spaniards a little bit which lead to the first shot on target by Xavi, but only straight at the Keeper. Then began the Free Kick galore by Ronaldo; throughout the EURO RONALDO has been 100% with his free kicks, 100% ineffective that is. After taking around 4 to 5 free kicks one would know it wasn’t Ronaldo’s night and the scent of another overtime game was coming. As the time came, minute 90, it was a 4-on-1 breakaway for the Portuguese, and the a hope for a goal was in mind. That hope ended however with ANOTHER Ronaldo miss. So we went into Overtime.
The overtime was little but exciting. Del Bosque’s side well dominated the extra 30 minutes, resulting in a clear chance for Iniesta to do another late heroic goal, but it wasn’t meant to be. Raul Patricia denied Iniesta the goal with a brilliant save at a crucial time in the game. We would go on to the Penalty Kicks.
The Penalty Kicks
Spain: MISS by Xavi Alonso! Patricio denying Alonso!
Portugal: SAVE, Casillas! Mountinho misses
0-0
Spain: Iniesta! Goal!!
Portugal: Long run by Pepe and GOALL!! PEPE!
1-1
Spain: Pique goal!!!
Portugal: bruno Alves to take, oh wait, Nani wants to take it. Last minute switch. GOAL!!
2-2
Spain: Ramos. Oh no, Will this be Madrid miss repeat? GOAL!! What a Chip!
Alves: For real this time. The shot… Crossbar!!
3-2 Spain!
Spain: Fabregas to take the last kick. It’s all in his hands. He steps, shoots, POST and in!
4-2 SPAIN WINS! Spain advances to the final!
**Ronaldo did not take a PK, he was chosen for the 5th kick WHICH DID not happen.
After than enthralling game, all I can say is good game. This match could have gone either way, it was a very even match in which teams had their chances but failed to execute. Perhaps not something we expected, but every match is different. This Spanish side is on its way to making history by aspiring to win three major tournaments in a row. they must now beat a strong Italian side. Great job by Portugal in this Euro, they really forced Spain to play a bit unlike them which resulted in a much more complicated match than the Spanish side expected. On ward to the Final!
Now the question remains; If Spain wins, does this make them the greatest National team in History?
Man of the Match
Casillas – For stepping up on the first Penalty Kick which lead to a tie game in the Penalties
Flop of the Match
Ronaldo and Negredo – Ronaldo proved to be very ineffective by missing clear cut shots and failing to get any of his free kicks on target. Quiet Night by the lad. Negredo proved to do little to nothing in the game. I would love to know why Torres did not start over him.
Interesting Facts
· Portugal was the only team in the Semi-Finals to not win the Euro
· There were 7 Real Madrid players on the pitch battling out there.
· Spain had not conceded a goal in the last 8 knockout games in any major competition
· Spain was the first defending Euro Champion to reach the Semi-finals since Holland ‘92
· Spain has never lost a Semi Final match in the Euro nor the World Cup
· In their 35 encounter Spain has a record of 16 W 13 T and 6 L
· Spain has now gone approximately 421 Minutes without conceding a goal in the Euro, longest streak in History of Euro.
· Spain now has a 19 match unbeaten streak
· Casilllas is the first Spanish Player to Captain 10+ matches in the Euro
· Casillas has 99 Wins as a Spanish player, the Semi’s vs. Portugal is technically a draw, therefore Casillas is still at win #99
0 comments:
Post a Comment