2010 World Cup Spain v Switzerland full time report
Spain 0 Switzerland 1
Switzerland pulled off one of the shocks of this year’s World Cup as they beat favourites Spain in their opening match 1-0 thanks to Gelson Fernandes’ strike on 52 minutes.
Fernandes scrambled home after comical defending by the Spanish. Iker Casillas came charging out, missed the ball, and after a few deflections, and after Gerard Pique tried to stop the ball from going in, Fernandes nipped in to stun the European champions.
Spain failed to shine, as a frustrated David Villa cut a lonely figure up front. The introduction of Fernando Torres and Jesús Navas on the hour mark livened up proceedings for Spain.
The best chance Vicente del Bosque’s men had was when Xabi Alonso hit a tremendous shot from outside of the box which smashed against the crossbar. It was a typical Alonso strike which left the Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio with no chance.
Andrés Iniesta was as sharp as ever, and the Barcelona man curled a shot agonisingly wide of the mark from the edge of the box.
Piqué spurned his chance after a great ball from Iniesta unlocked the Swiss. Piqué turned his marker but shot straight at Benaglio.
Spain had a lot of the possession, as expected, with Alonso at the heart of the midfield dictating play. The Spanish were camped inside Switzerland’s half for the majority of the match.
On 68 minutes, the substitutes of Torres and Navas were beginning to have an impact, with Torres getting his first sight on goal as he tried to put the ball in the top corner, while Navas was having an influence on the right flank.
Spain continued to commit players to try and grab an equaliser, and by doing this Switzerland hit them on the counter-attack.
On 73 minutes, Eren Derdiyok had the chance to double the lead. After being put through by a neat one-two, he cleverly beat two players, and with the outside of his foot hit the bottom of the post.
Tranquillo Barnetta came close to securing the win, but his shot went over the bar.
Switzerland manager Ottmar Hitzfeld said in his press conference that he wanted to cause an upset, and the Swiss did that today.
The German used all of his years of experience to mastermind this win, drilling his team to defend a constant wave of Spanish attacks.
The defeat for Spain has ended a run of 12 wins on the bounce, and only their second defeat in 35 competitive matches, the last coming against the USA at last year’s Confederations Cup.
The last team who were able to score against Switzerland in a World Cup match was, ironically, Spain, in 1994.
Switzerland were tough to break down, and collected a crucial three points against the favourites.
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