Overview - Spain Defeats Switzerland
Spanish team had seen all their major rivals play their first round of matches and they must have gotten some confidence by the fact that none of them could really show the title winning credentials – Germany apart though. The pre-tournament favourites were being backed to shrug off their title of being underachievers on the international football stage. They had taken a gigantic step in this direction by winning the 2008 European championship but the World Cup is the real deal in which, surprisingly, their best finish has been the fourth position achieved way back in the 1950 edition. As far as the neutral fans are concerned, they had high expectations from this last of the first round matches that Spain would finally be the team to kick-start the extravaganza we all had waited to watch in the 2010 World Cup.
Switzerland, on the other hand, were well capable of spoiling the party. Incredibly, they did not conceded a single goal in open play during the four matches they played in the 2006 World Cup, which speaks volumes about their discipline in the defensive side of the game. The Swiss had nothing to lose in this match as their real battle was with Chile, and may be Honduras, for second spot in the group. From the start of the match, Switzerland had a clear plan of keeping the Spaniards quite for as long as possible and trying to break on the counter attack.
Both teams made a slow start to the match with Spain enjoying more of the ball possession but doing nothing productive with it. They passed, passed and passed in horizontal directions with a rare try to put the ball behind the Swiss defensive line. It took the Spaniards 15 minutes to get their first shot on the goal which is not exactly what the tournament favourites should be doing. For putting pressure on the opponents, who are not willing to come out of their cage, the dominating team should be taking shots on the goal and not just playing with the ball in front of them. Spain had a staggering 72% ball possession in the first half but could only create one clear chance till the breather when Gerard Pique went one on one with the Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.
Second period started just like the first one ended but the match did not have to wait long for its first goal when the Swiss team hit on a counter attack and Gelson Fernandes took advantage of the Spaniards’ inability to clear their lines. Probably the Spanish defenders and goalkeeper Iker Casillas had got rusty after having nothing much to do prior to this threat.
Match continued on the same rhythm with Spain playing around the Swiss penalty area but not being able to penetrate through it. Their best effort came from Xabi Alonso when his thunderous strike hit inside the goal post but it was Tranquillo Barnetta for Switzerland who came closest to scoring second goal of the match.
In the end, the Swiss team fully deserved this win for their disciplined and resolute show in defence and carrying out their tactics with no errors. For Spain, some question marks have been raised; their ability to break the opponents. They were brilliant in midfield with both Xavi and Andres Iniesta at the top of their games and Sergio Ramos threatening from the right flank. The coach Vicente del Bosque will also need to find his best starting XI which is definitely not the one that showed up this evening.
Spain will now face Honduras in their next match and then Chile in their final group match. They surely need to win both matches to keep their hopes of the first world title alive and possibly by bigger goal difference to top the group and avoid winners of Group G in the Round of 16, which could very well be Brazil.
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