World Football News: Portugal vs. Spain – Full Time Report (Part 1)
The first half saw the home side Portugal taking advantage of the moment and scoring a goal as Carlos Martins scored a wonderful goal after the ball was deflected from Iker Casillas’ hands and found his feet.
As the second half started both the teams took their positions on the field and no changes were made by any of the sides as both the coaches were satisfied by the way their team was performing. Later though, the Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo
was taken off as Rui Patricio took his position between the two poles, no more changes were made by any of the teams right after half time.
With the second half kicking off the Spanish side started to play their tiki taka style of play again and this time they looked to be more composed as they passed the ball on and soon after two minutes a good move by the Spanish side was
well denied by the Portuguese defence.
David Villa was taken off for Fernando Torres while on the pitch it was Xabi Alonso who saw the new goalkeeper off his lines and took a shot from his half. The shot was on target but Rui Patricio went back on time and easily denied the
Spaniards the goal.
The second half had less pace but more action as it kicked off. The Portuguese denied a shot from Xabi Alonso and Torres and soon found the second goal as Nani made a run from the right flank. The Manchester United youngster crossed the
ball in and the Spanish defender Sergio Ramos scored an own goal while defending the ball as the home side saw themselves in a two goal advantage.
A Real Madrid centre back was substituted by another Los Blancos defender as Ricardo Carvalho was taken off for Pepe who took his position as a centre back. On the other hand, Xabi Alonso looked to be aggressive as the Spaniard kept on
trying his luck on goal and found his shot going wide again when a pass from Andres Iniesta was not converted by his shot on goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo was also substituted because there were chances that he could get injured and the Brazilian captain was substituted by the Portuguese youngster Danny. The inclusion of Danny did bring pace to the team but the skill of
Cristiano Ronaldo was definitely being missed on the left flank.
The Spaniards were now trying to take more shots on goal as Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez were trying their best to feed balls to Fernando Torres in the 18 yard box. The Liverpool striker found himself injured against Stoke City but
he still featured for the Spanish side even though his ankle was a cause of concern. The Spaniard also did wonders against Chelsea as he scored two marvellous goals to help his team win one of the most important games for Liverpool in the English Premier League.
The midfield maestro Xavi Hernandez was also substituted because of his ankle issues and the Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas took his position on the field. No one can forget how the Arsenal midfielder helped the Spaniards with a wonderful
assist in the FIFA World Cup 2010 final as his pass was converted into a wonderful goal by Andres Iniesta. Morever, Gerard Pique was also benched as Carlos Marchena took his position as a central defender while Carles Puyol was still performing his duties
for the Spanish side.
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