Argentina defeat Spain 4-1 in friendly
In one of the most glamorous football friendly matches played around the World, Argentina outclassed Spain 4-1 to win in Buenos Aires and lift some of the invincibility that the World Champions seemed to have covered themselves with.
Carlos Puyol, Xavi and Iker Casillas might not have been playing but other than that, it was a full strength Spanish side, which pitted their wits against a new look Argentina, which ironically welcomed back the veterans in Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti. It was a fierce match from the beginning and despite the final lopsided score line, Spain had a lot more chances to crawl back into the game. In fact, they had three shots which hit the woodwork. Now imagine if those chances had gone in. The match then would have been a draw. But that is football and football’s narrow margins affect the outcome of a match.
Argentina started the match in aggressive fashion, flooding the midfield and allowing Spain no time on the ball. In the absence of Xavi, no Spanish midfielder was able to exert pressure as Argentina rained in some early attacks. The home fans did not have long to wait for a goal to arrive. To their ecstasy it was the world player of the year, Lionel Messi who found himself at the end of a Carlos Tevez pass. As Spanish keeper Pepe Reina was closing in, the Argentinean wizard coolly chipped the ball over the Liverpool keeper, making it 1-0 to Argentina.
If Spain thought they could go back to their passing pattern and possession of the ball, they had another thing coming. Argentina was in a rampant mood and Gonzalo Higuain found himself at the end of a neatly threaded ball with just Reina to beat. Higuain pulled the ball wide after beating Reina and it looked as if he might not be able to make the shot but at the last moment, he slid in to make the narrow angle and give Argentina an incredible 2-0 lead.
The World Champions were stunned. Spain had only really lost 2 games since 2006 prior to this. The two matches came against Switzerland in the World Cup and then in South Africa against the United States in the Confederates Cup. Suddenly it seemed a third loss on a different continent was on the cards.
After the early shocks, Spain slowly began to grow into their groove passing the ball around more confidently. They were almost handed a lifeline back in the game when striker David Villa hit a spectacular 30-yard shot which rattled the woodwork. However, it was not to be and just a few minutes later, Spain found itself in even more trouble.
Reina slipped whilst receiving a routine back pass and Tevez raced in to win the ball and hook it into the goal, to leave the Liverpool man red-faced. It was three-nil and there looked no way back.
After a flurry of changes at the break, Spain looked like they were getting back in the game. However, Argentina stood strong and repulsed all attacks. Spain had twice as many shots as Argentina but was unable to find a way until the 84th minute when Fernando Llorente scored a consolation goal.
However, it was Argentina with the last laugh. Sergio Aguero headed in a late goal to cap off a remarkable result against the World Champions.
Coach Vicente del Bosque was gracious in defeat and said that they will learn from the loss and that it was not a bad performance. Indeed, Argentina was very clinical but Spain had enough of their own chances to make it a very high scoring match. It was just a friendly but the World will be thanking Argentina for showing them the current World Champions are not invincible.
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