http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 U-21 versus Belarus U-21 – Under 21 European Championship semi finals: First half review (Part 1)
Spain and Belarus took the field at Viborg Stadion in Demark for their Under-21 European Championship semi finals on 22nd of June, 2011 as Spain put out an extremely offensive looking line up. The miniature version of
the La Furia Roja used http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-Domínguez-c5285, Martin Montoya, Didac Vila and Botia in their defence.
In the Spanish midfield department, Javi http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Thiago-c34888 Alcantara supported
his team’s three man attack of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bojan-Krkic-c7794 started on the bench for the tournament favourites.
On the other hand, Belarus opted to field their side in a 4-5-1 formation. With their five midfielders, they aimed to stifle the Spanish approach play. In goal, Aleksandr Gutor took up his usual place in between the goal sticks
as Belarus’ first choice shot stopper. Gutor was supported by a four man defence which was made up of Sergey Politevich, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Denis-Polyakov-c10876, Oleg Veretio and Egor Filippenko.
In their midfield, Stanislav Dragun was charged with protecting his team’s http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mikhail-Sivakov-c25728 and Andrey Varankov played on the wings for the tournament underdogs. Aleksandr Perepechko and Pavel Nekhaychik played as
Belarus’ two main playmakers whilst http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maksim-Skavysh-c23233 was deployed as their solitary striker.
Spain were on the front foot right from the first minute as Thiago Alcantara tried to play in Juan Mata down the right hand side of the field. However the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 midfielder put too much power on his pass as the ball rolled out
of play for a Belarus’ goal kick. Spain maintained a monopoly over ball possession early on in the first half as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Belarus-c2849 found it hard to close their opponents down in the centre of the park due to Spain’s excellent off the ball movement.
In the 4th minute, Spain were awarded their first corner kick of the match when the ball went out of play via a deflection following Adrian’s cross into the Belarus penalty area. The corner kick was taken by Thiago Alcantara
but the set piece didn’t materialize into a goal scoring opportunity as the ball was easily cleared away by the Belarusian defence. In the 8th minute, Spain almost scored their first goal of the match. This time Adrian cut the ball back to Mata
who found himself in space at the edge of the Belarus penalty area. However the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863 target-man failed to place the ball into the back of the net as his shot sailed over the cross bar and went out of play for a goal kick.
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