Spain Under-19 v England Under-19: Match Report
Spain 3 England 1
A dominant performance from Spain Under-19s condemned England to a semi-final exit at the 2010 European Championships in France.
Goals from Dani Pacheco and Kiko handed Spain a deserved 2-0 lead, before a fine strike from John Bostock offered England hope. But an ingenious team free-kick, eventually converted by Sergio Canales, was enough to send the Spaniards into Friday’s final.
Spain broke the deadlock in the 12th minute through the tournament’s standout striker, Liverpool’s Pacheco, following good work from Real Madrid newcomer Canales on the right-flank.
The 19-year-old side-footed the ball past Declan Rudd with aplomb to hand Spain an early advantage. It was Pacheco’s fourth goal of the tournament – ensuring that he leads the chase for the Golden Boot going into the final.
Spain dominated the match for the next 20 minutes, while England struggled to get close to their opponents. The pass-and-move football, synonymous with the world champions in South Africa, was also serving their youngsters well, and before long Keko had doubled the Spaniards’ advantage.
The talented captain was fed by Pacheco from the right, and proceeded to slalom his run across the face of goal before slotting the ball perfectly past both Rudd and defender Steven Caulker.
It was a moment of individual brilliance from the Atletico Madrid striker – Spain were cruising and had the look of potential champions. England though, firmly against the run of play, gave themselves hope going into the interval after pulling a goal back through substitute John Bostock.
The 18-year-old Tottenham midfielder brilliantly lashed home a left-footed volley into the bottom corner from outside the box to reduce the deficit to one goal.
After the break, Spain effectively killed the match off as a contest with another moment of genius. Last Saturday, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9zAXMmhobI against Italy had wowed the crowd and racked up hundreds of thousands of hits on various websites. Canales’ goal is surely destined to follow in its footsteps.
From a Spain free-kick, a delicately chipped ball over the England wall from Thiago Alcántara found Canales with expert precision, and the striker finished with consummate ease to leave Noel Blake’s side with a mountain to climb.
Nathan Delfouneso, who had looked bright in the opening stages, then had a chance to peg Spain back once again. However, he wasn’t able to connect with Frank Nouble’s fine delivery quite as he would have wanted, and the ball sailed harmlessly over the bar.
England had failed to test their Spanish counterparts, but this was largely due to the excellence of their opponents, who will be marked down as favourites to lift the trophy whether they play Croatia or France on Friday evening.
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