International friendly match analysis: Argentina vs. Spain – Part 3
Now Xavi Hernandez was wearing the Captain's armband for the Spaniards as they were trying to combine in the midfield to gain momentum for scoring a goal. With so many Barcelona players playing for the Spanish side, many passes were flowing around and soon, a great ball from Xavi found Pedro Rodriguez who was taken down by Javier Zenetti.
The free kick was awarded and it was Xavi who was to take the free kick. However, the Spaniard only managed to hit the wall although the deflected shot was well taken by Jesus Navas and a wonderful save was made by the Argentinean number 1 as the ball struck the post for the third time during the match.
Now it was all Spain as the usual team was playing for the world champions. Jesus Navas, Pedro, Xavi Hernandez were combining well with each other but Sergio Ramos was still missed on the right flank for the Spaniards.
Jesus Navas was taken down on the right flank and Xavi Hernandez's ball was headed by Llorente but again, he did not really manage to find the target. It was now clear that it was simply not a good day for the Spaniards.
After the 75th minute mark, the Argentineans tried to combine well as they started to move the ball around amongst themselves and Heinze was taken down by Sergio Busquets. A counter attack was soon made and it was Navas who found Xavi who gave a wonderful ball to Pedro Rodriguez, but the Barcelona man's shot was well saved by Sergio Romero. The corner was well taken as well, but Romero again managed to find grip on the ball.
Only 10 minutes were left for the 90th minute mark while the Spaniards were the side who saw more of the ball in the second half. However, it was the Argentineans who were busy trying to defend the three goal lead that they had. The Spaniards, on the other hand, were trying to play long balls to the three strikers that they were playing; Pedro, Llorente and Jesus Navas.
With so much pressure on the Argentineans, the experienced defensive side was seen putting in sliding tackles for the South American side and kept on saving themselves by defending well.
The game lost pace in the 82nd minute but Jesus Navas' cross was well blocked by Heinze and a short corner was well cleared by Gabriel Milito who had impressed a lot throughout the match. The Spaniards were, however, trying to make a move forward to find the net at least for a consolation goal.
They did actually find one as Llorente pulled one back for Spain. Almost fifty passes were played before Pedro found the ball at his feet and passed it on to Llorente. Llorente made a wonderful turn and Gabriel Milito could not really judge him correctly and the Spaniard found the bottom left corner of the goal as the Spaniards made it 3-1 for them.
Sergio Aguero made a run to the other side and was caught by the Spanish defenders. The free kick was taken short and Angel Di Maria was the player who finally crossed it in to find Cambiasso, but it was well taken by Victor Valdes, who replaced Pepe Reina in the second half.
In the 86th minute, the Spaniards passed their way through to the other side again and it was Jesus Nevas who found Pedro close to the goal but with Sergio Romero totally beaten, Gabriel Milito was there to save the day for the Argentineans. Lionel Messi then countered on the other hand, but took a weak shot even though he had 3 options to pass the ball. He still took the shot but did not manage to score as he lost the balance after crossing 3 defenders.
Spain was totally dominating throughout the second half and just before the 89th minute mark Lionel Messi was to leave the pitch as the crowd cheered him off the pitch. It was the unpredictable Argentinean, Allesandro who took his place.
In the 90th minute, Argentina made another fabulous effort on goal as Cambiasso gave a wonderful ball to the left wing back Heinze and the pin point cross was headed fabulously by Sergio Aguero who managed to head it past Victor Valdes and the match was now dragged too far away from the Spaniards as the score line was now 4-1 in favour of the South Americans.
A happy Sergio Batista was seen on the bench as the referee blew the full time whistle. The Argentineans won the match 4-1 with Messi, Higuain, Tevez and Aguero all making it to the scoring charts while it was Llorente who managed to score the only goal for the Spanish side. It was totally a match to watch as the World Cup disappointments, Argentina, totally destroyed the World champions after a 4-1 win over them.
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