Switzerland U-21 versus Spain U-21 – Under 21 European Championships: First half review (Part 2)
After dominating the opening exchanges of their U-21 European Championship’s final matchup against Switzerland, Spain’s U-21 team went onto maintain a monopoly over ball possession by perfectly taking advantage of their 3v2 situation
in central midfield. As Switzerland were playing a two man central midfield against Spain, the Spanish U-21 contingent had a numerical advantage over their European counterparts with their 4-3-3 formation.
With Thiago Alcantara, Javi http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 were always at an advantage
structurally in the match. In the 15th minute of the match, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fabian-Lustenberger-c13112 became the first player on the night to go into the referee’s book as the Swiss midfielder was left with no option but to tackle Ander because Spain were quickly embarking
towards a counter attack once the Swiss had lost the possession of the ball inside their own half of the field.
In the 20th minute, Spain were awarded a corner kick which was taken by Barcelona’s youth academy product, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Thiago-c34888 Alcantara. The Brazilian born Spanish international midfielder whipped in a curving set piece towards
Botia but the Spanish centre back failed to make contact with the ball as it sailed out of play for a throw inn.
In the 23rd minute, Switzerland were awarded a free kick near Spain’s penalty area. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Xherdan-Shaqiri-c37074 stepped up to take the free kick but the Swiss winger fired the ball high above the cross bar as he applied too much
power on the shot rather than focusing on accuracy. In the 28th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-de-Gea-c10463.
The Manchester United bound goalkeeper showed tremendous reflexes as he parried Shaqiri’s shot away in order to keep the score line at nil all. In the 35th minute of the match, Thiago Alcantara had a brilliant chance
to give his team the lead as he tried his luck from outside the Swiss penalty area. However the Spanish U-21 midfielder was unable to force http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Yann-Sommer-c37199 into action as his shot whistled past the left hand post of the Swiss goal.
Nonetheless, Spain finally broke the deadlock in the 40th minute when Didac crossed the ball for Ander to head through. The Spanish defensive midfielder headed the ball past Sommer with relative ease as he unmarked on
the far post inside the Swiss penalty area. Soon after the first half came to a close with Spain in the lead thanks to Ander’s late strike. Switzerland contained Spain for a large part of the first half but then failed to close the first half on a high as
they conceded a late goal.
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