FIFA 2010 World Cup: Spain overcome Paraguay, David Villa scores his 5th
The Spaniards had shrugged off the tag of under-achievers two years ago when they won the European championships but this was their best ever chance to seize an opportunity on the world stage.
However, it has not been a walk in the park for the 2nd ranked team in the FIFA rankings. They gave this World Cup the biggest shocker when they lost their Group H opening match to Switzerland. Spain’s philosophy of possession based attacking did not prove to be fruitful and they were hit by the Swiss on one of the counter attacks which ended in a humbling 1-0 defeat for the European champions. Spain then had to win both of their remaining group matches to progress through to the knock out stage. They scored two goals each against Honduras and Chile to qualify for the Round of 16 and in the process confirmed their top spot in the group to avoid playing Brazil in the second stage and instead took on Portugal.
The Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz had deployed negative tactics throughout this World Cup campaign and he tried the same against Spain. Portugal kept their Iberian neighbours frustrated for most of the match but in the end fell to David Villa’s fourth goal of the tournament.
Paraguay, on the other hand, had played this tournament with very different tactics. They had been rock solid at the back and invited their opponents to attack. Setting up fast paced counter attacks. In fact, Paraguay had conceded only one goal prior to this quarter final showdown, with Spain, which came in their Group F opening match against defending champions Italy.
In defence of their title, Italy conceded the lead to Paraguay which the South Americans failed to keep and drew the match. Paraguay won their second match against Slovakia which proved to be decisive for them getting the top spot in the tightest of all groups. Their last match remained goalless against New Zealand and so was their Round of 16 encounter with Japan. In this cagey affair both teams were more curious not to concede the lead than to take one. 120 minutes were not enough to separate both teams and a penalty shootout was required in which only Yuichi Kamano failed to score from his spot kick. The shootout ended 5-3 in Paraguay’s favour to give them their first-ever quarter-final appearance in the FIFA World Cup.
Spain, as expected, enjoyed the higher share of ball possession throughout the match but once again could do little in putting it behind the opponent’s defensive line despite showing all the world class skills in the build up. However, the first few half chances fell to Paraguay through Jonathan Santana and Cristian Riveros. The game came into some flow only after the half hour mark but David Villa and Xavi failed to capitalise to end the half with no goals.
Penalty madness struck the match in the second half to add some spice to the match. Gerard Pique pulled down Oscar Cardozo in the 18-yard box who stood up to hit the spot kick straight into Iker Casillas. Just five minutes later, Spain was awarded a penalty of their own when Antolin Alcaraz fouled David Villa. Villa was not given a chance to increase his goals tally in the tournament and Xabi Alonso stepped up. Alonso put the ball in the back of the net but it was ruled out by the referee because of the encroachment in the penalty box by the Spanish players. The second take was saved by the Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar. Just seven minutes before the final whistle David Villa scored his fifth goal of the tournament to send the Paraguayans packing.
Spain will now battle with Germany for the right to play in the final against either the Netherlands or Uruguay. Germany will arguably face their first real test in the tournament as all other teams were more interested in defence but Germans have been totally different. They have scored four goals each against England in the Round of 16 and then against Argentina in the quarter-final to become the leading scorers in the tournament. This repeat of the Euro 2008 will be played on 7th July in Durban Stadium where Germany thrashed Australia 4-0 and Spain lost to Switzerland in their respective opening matches.
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