World Cup 2010: Spain 1-0 Paraguay - Full Time Report
Spain survived an all-mighty scare to book their place in the semi-finals after a match that lived up to the title of quarter-final slowly, but surely. It was David Villa who was Spain's saviour as they defeated a Paraguay side who had no one but themselves to blame for crashing out of the competition and leaving Uruguay as the sole representatives of South America in the semi's.
The first half of the match left a lot to be desired. It appeared to be heading for yet another penalty shoot-out after long spells of Spanish possession were wasted time after time by a very well organized Uruguayan defence. In fact, the South Americans were always the ones who looked more likely to score in the first half, with Valdez troubling the Spanish centre-back pairing of Pique and Puyol. A goal was controversially disallowed by the referee in the 41st minute, which would have given Paraguay a much deserved lead.
The second half provided enough drama to make up for the first half and a few more, as no less than 3 penalties were taken and none changed the score-line.
Uruguay were awarded a penalty in the 57th minute when Pique brought down Cardozo by grabbing onto his hand. The referee was aware of the situation and correctly pointed to the spot. Pique was shown a yellow card instead of a straight red. Cardozo stepped up to take the penalty and after his conversion in the last round, he looked destined to score but it was not to be. His low shot was blocked and then held by Casillas, who was in impressive form throughout the game. There was some infringement into the penalty area and the kick should have been re-taken but the referee did not spot this and so Spain survived.
In what was barely a minute after the missed penalty on one side, another was awarded on the other. David Villa went down, perhaps a little softly, under a challenge from Alcaraz and the referee pointed to the spot. Xabi Alonso stepped up to take the kick and calmly slotted the ball in the back of the net but as he was about to celebrate his goal, the referee blew his whistle and indicated, ironically, that the kick would have to be re-taken, due to Spanish players encroaching into the penalty area.
Alonso stepped up to take the penalty for a second time but this time the Paraguay goalkeeper, Villar, went the right way and saved the kick. From the re-bound Fabregas, who had been brought on by Spain, made the most of a block from the goalkeeper in order to get another penalty but the referee did not buy it. Add to that, a shot by Ramos was cleared from the line and perhaps the most incredible 4 minute spell in this World Cup came to an end.
The game livened up after the penalty incidents, with Spain looking the more threatening side from then on. The only goal of the game came in the 82nd minute when Iniesta virtually walked through the Paraguay defence due to some really bad defending and put the ball on a plate for Pedro, another substitute, to score. His shot, though, hit the post but luckily for Spain it fell to David Villa. In this World Cup almost everything Villa has touched has turned to goals and his fifth was summed up in the tournament.
His shot appeared to be going wide of the goal but the curl on the ball allowed it to hit the inside of the right post, roll across the line behind the helpless Paraguayan defender, hit the other post and go in. Almost like a game of pinball, but Spain were not complaining.
Paraguay had one last chance to force the match into extra time but the substitute, Roque Santa Cruz, could not take advantage of a spill from the otherwise magnificent Casillas, and hit his shot right at the goalkeeper from about 10 yards. It was a very disappointing defeat for Paraguay, who are the third South American team to be knocked out of the tournament in the last 2 days.
The win for Spain sets up an intriguing semi-final against Germany which will be a repeat of the Final of Euro' 2008, when Spain defeated Germany 1-0 to lift the crown. The Germans have improved a lot since then, while Spain, if anything, have regressed a little. It will be an opportunity for the Germans to extract revenge on the Spanish but no matter which way the match goes, it will be a match fitting of a World Cup semi-final.
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