iSporter Suraj Kori strongly feels now that Spain have made their way to the finals, they are just a step behind in attaning victory in the 2010 FIFA World cup! He expresses his views on the 'for' and 'against' factors for Spain. He alscao shares his thoughts on what to look out for in the most ancipated game! Read on to find out more.
Spain, the underachievers! Yes, you read it right. This is what they were usually referred too. But they shut the mouth of all its critics winning the UEFA Euro 2008. They defeated the Germans in finals which was a shock to everyone. And now they are just one step behind of achieving what is the biggest and most prestigious trophy in world football, the World Cup!
They are now in the finals and will have to defeat Netherlands to win the World Cup. But Spain’s journey to the finals has not been an easy one. Spain entered the tournament as the favourites but lost its opening match against Switzerland which was a huge blow to the European champions. This saw them in the danger to making an early exit from the tournament…
But they got back to its winnings ways in the next match registering a convincing 2-0 win over Honduras. This win kept them alive in the World Cup and had to win its next match to make it to the next round. Spain defeated Chile 2-1 in its last match of the group stage. This saw them finishing at the top of Group H!
David Villa scored both the goals in the match against Honduras. In the next match too David Villa scored a goal which saw them through to the Round of 16.
Spain had to face the Portuguese in pre-quarters. It was not at all an easy task to get past the Cristiano Ronaldo lead Portugal! Both the teams played good football making a number chances and defending stiffly too. The teams were finding it difficult to score. But it was the Spaniards who made it to the Quarter-finals with a 1-0 win. This time again it was David Villa who came to the rescue scoring the only goal of the match!
All eyes were on Ronaldo to score for his national side and a goal from his free kick would have been a treat for the Portuguese fans. But it was David Villa who stole the show with his goal!
Spain then had to face Paraguay in the Quarter-finals! I personally felt that Spain should have easily won this match but things didn’t go as expected. Spain had to fight hard for this win. It had to wait until the 83rd minute to break the solid Paraguay defense and who other than Villa would be the man to seal the match for Spain.
This win saw them meet Germany in the semi-finals. This was Spain’s toughest test so far in the tournament. Germany are a very young team but by no means have seemed so. And contrary to Spain they had won its knock out matches quite easily. Germany defeated England 4-1 in the pre-quarters and Argentina 4-0 in the Quarters. Where as Spain on the other hand had to work really very had to get here!
This match was a recap of the UEFA Euro 2008 final which Spain won 1-0. Well, things had changed from then and Germany was a lot more different team now.
But Spain didn’t give Germans any chance to control the game. The Spaniards kept the possession with them and also made more chances than Germany. Germany on the other hand basically relied on counter-attacks.
After a goalless first half, Spain finally got the goal in the 73rd minute from Carles Puyol’s header which sealed their place in the finals against Netherlands.
Spain is just one step away from making history! But there is another history which is going against them; no team which has lost its opening match of the World Cup has ever won it. The farthest the team losing the opener has gone is the finals.
Spain has successfully reached the finals and it would be interesting to see whether they will be able to make history or no…
The finals would not only be a fight to be best team in the World between Netherlands and Spain but also for the best player (Golden Boot) between David Villa and Wesley Sneijder who are tied at the top spot with 5 goals. Villa is also just one goal away from leveling with all-time goal scorer Raul (44 goals)!
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