Spain 1 Portugal 0

Tuesday, 29/06/2010

Report: James Dielhenn

World Cup favourites Spain beat Portugal in the all-Iberian second-round clash at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, due to a second-half goal from David Villa.

Spain dominated the match but were made to wait a long time for their breakthrough by a resolute Portugal side, who couldn’t get Cristiano Ronaldo involved enough to threaten the Spanish goal, and had a man sent off in the 89th minute.

Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo, who has an impressive 14 clean sheets in his 18 previous international appearances, had to be alert to deny Fernando Torres and Villa within the first few minutes, as Spain started as the brighter team.

At the other end, Eduardo’s opposite number Iker Casillas looked a lot nervier than his reputation suggests he should have been.  He fumbled a long-range Tiago shot before saving some face by clawing the rebound out from underneath his crossbar, before he failed to convincingly parry Ronaldo’s free-kick.  The Real Madrid goalkeeper Casillas was then fortunate not to concede when Portugal’s tall striker Hugo Almeida mis-timed a header wide from point-blank range.

Spain, as expected, dominated possession in the first-half, but Portugal’s excellent defensive organisation didn’t give them any chances.  Worryingly for Spain, Torres still didn’t look fully fit when he had the ball in threatening positions.

Portugal were content to soak up Spain’s pressure in the second-half and hope to score on the counter-attack.  This almost worked when Carles Puyol intercepted a cross and almost put the ball into his own goal.

Spain looked unimaginative, and Vicente Del Bosque took off the mis-firing Torres.  His replacement, Fernando Llorente, should have scored with his first touch, but his free header was straight at Eduardo.

With his team lacking a cutting edge, Villa burst into action after 62 minutes.  Neat passing slipped him through the defence, and after Eduardo blocked his first shot, Villa made it 1-0 with the rebound.  Villa, arguably the World Cup’s most in-form player, almost scored a second from 25 yards but Eduardo athletically denied him.

Portugal seemingly had the belief taken out of them, and their talisman Ronaldo couldn’t get a touch of the ball.  Frustratingly unable to create a chance to equalise in the remaining minutes, Portugal bizarrely had a man sent off in the 89th minute.  Ricardo Costa was red carded after an innocuous challenge with Joan Capdevila, who disgraceful exaggerated to get his opponent sent off.

Spain will now play Paraguay in a quarter-final in Johannesburg that they will be heavily expected to win.

Goals:

Villa (63)

Shoot Man of the Match: Villa

For reports of previous matches at the tournament go to the International section.

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