Paul the Octopus is right again: Spain defeats Germany 1-0
European football powerhouses Germany and Spain locked horns in the second semi-final of the 2010 World Cup last night. Germany was given an opportunity to take revenge of their defeat at the hands of the Spaniards in the final of the European Championships two years ago. History on the other hand was supporting the German cause. The Germans had won 2-1 at both England 1966 and Spain 1982 while the match in USA 1994 ended in a 1-1 draw.
Prior to this match, Germany scored 13 goals in South Africa 2010 which was the highest by any team in the tournament. With a 4-0 win over Australia in the opening group match, 4-1 against England in the Round of 16 and an emphatic 4-0 victory over the much fancied Argentina in the quarter-finals, Germany proved their worth in style. Brazil in Mexico 1970 is the only other team which had scored four goals in three matches in their title winning campaign.
The biggest headache was the German coach Joachim Loew in the teams’ selection was to replace the promising Thomas Muller in the starting line-up who was suspended after his booking in the quarter-finals. Muller was a great miss especially after he had contributed well with his four goals in the tournament. However, Miroslav Klose was available to start the match and added to his fourteen goals for equalling the all-time goal scoring record of Ronaldo in World Cup history.
Contrary to Germany’s 12th appearance in World Cup semi-finals, Spain was to play in their first ever match for the final four (although they ended on the fourth position in Brazil 1950 but the winner was decided after a round robin phase among the four group winners and there were semi-finals played). Another contradiction was in the goal scoring habits of both teams as Spain’s three of the four wins in this tournament had come with only a single goal margin. The misfiring Fernando Torres was demoted to the bench for his poor show in the World Cup thus far but there was no start for Cesc Fabregas either as Pedro was given the nod ahead of him.
As any other match involving Spain in this World Cup, this one also started with lots of ball possession for the Spanish side with Xavi, Andrea Iniesta and Xabi Alonso in the thick of every build-up as usual. Spain had a staggering 70% ball possession in the opening quarter of an hour and 65% in the first 20 minutes which showed their control over the run of play from the very start. Though the dream semi-final did not have a very adventurous first half with Spain keeping the match in the slowest gear and, the Spaniards’ off the ball movement continued to create problems for the German defence. Despite the larger share of the ball possession, Spain could only manage two shots on goal in the first as against one by Germany. The best chance of the first half fell to Mesut Ozil right at the end of it but the dual paced pitch did not allow the ball to roll into his strides. There were penalty claims from the German side but it would have been too harsh for the Spaniards.
In the second half, Spain returned to their usual clinical approach to the match and opened the game. Germany hit a purple patch after the hour mark but it ended with a corner kick for Spain. Carles Puyol was left unmarked and he was never going to miss this opportunity to put his team ahead. David Silva scored. However, the scorer was substituted. Just after this change, Pedro could have put the match beyond the Germans’ reach but selfishly kept the ball to himself and did not feed the ball to substitute Fernando Torres who could have easily scored his first goal of the tournament. On the contrary, Germany failed to create any clear chances for the equaliser and Spain clinched the match with a goal in their favour.
Spain will now face the Netherlands in the final who are coming into the final with an unbeaten streak of 25 games which started back in 2008. Of these 25 matches, 8 wins came in the World Cup qualifiers and 6 in the ongoing World Cup finals. One thing is for sure that there will be a new name added to the list of the seven nations who have previously won the world title as both Spain and the Netherlands have never tasted the ultimate glory in the world of football.
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