FIFA World Cup, Round of 16: Portugal 0-0 vs Spain - First Half Report
Portugal and Spain went into half time at 0-0 in the most anticipated encounter of the FIFA World Cup so far. Portugal vs Spain certainly lived up to the build-up, as there were plenty of silky moves, shots on target and tussles in the middle of the park, as anticipated by many before the match. However, the only thing missing in the first half was a goal. Two of the quickest teams in the World Cup looked well prepared for each other, as marking looked to be spot on.
Looking at the action on the pitch, Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas (captaining his country for the 51st time, a new national record), teammates at Real Madrid, shook hands, exchanged pennants and embraced warmly, and then Hector Baldassi got the game underway in Cape Town.
Spain got into the action right from the first whistle. Fernando Torres got hold of the ball and cut in from the left and curled a shot goal-wards; the out-of-form striker saw his effort tipped away by a sprawling Eduardo.
Minutes later, David Villa did the same cut in from the Spain left, and his shot bounced in front of Eduardo, who pushed it away from danger. It was a good, threatening start from the Euro 2008 Champions.
The Spanish domination continued in the early stages, and David Villa once again went in the box from the left and again shot low, this time towards the near post, but Eduardo had no problems making the save.
Portugal finally made a move, as they got the ball in the Spain area a couple of times, but nothing came of it. They looked a bit more settled, though.
Building upon their discovered form, Cristiano Ronaldo found some space and fired over a cross from the Portuguese right, but it was a bit too far ahead of Hugo Almeida, and ran out of play.
From the restart, Spain got a corner and Xavi got the ball; he turned sharply on a sixpence and whipped a shot just over.
Spain looked quite happy just popping the ball around the surface in Cape Town. They were back into their usual rhythm, but with no goal to show for it.
The best chance for Portugal perhaps came when Cristiano Ronaldo tried a free-kick from full 40 yards, out to the left, but it bounced into the arms of Iker Casillas.
And the end-to-end game continued, as Xavi found Fernando Torres on the right-hand angle of the Portugal penalty area, but he did not look like he knew what to do and after a couple of step-overs, the two defenders standing in his way mopped up with minimum fuss.
Fabio Coentrao, the best left-back in the World Cup, started a great move for Portugal with a brilliant run into the Spain half and when he teed up Tiago, his 25-yard blast was pushed into the air by Iker Casillas. When it dropped, Casillas had to get back quickly to push it away from a leaping Hugo Almeida. Only an inch or two could have made the difference there.
Soon after, there was a gorgeous passing move from Spain, but Xavi's pass into the area on the left was a fraction too heavy for David Villa to reel in, and it went out of play.
It was probably the most open and end-to-end game in the World Cup so far, but with no goals in the first half, one of them is bound to score in the 2nd, but will it be the beautiful football display of Spain or the well choreographed strategy of Portugal that will persevere? We would have to wait at least 45 more minutes for the complete picture.
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