World Football News: Portugal vs. Spain – Half Time Report
The Spaniards were ready to face the home side Portugal as the match kicked off in Portugal. The visitors were wearing a new red and blue home kit while the Portuguese were in full white. The last time the two sides met in South Africa
during the FIFA World Cup 2010, the Spaniards narrowly won the game 1-0 and the Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque was playing almost the same line up as Fernando Torres was replaced by the Manchester City winger David Silva. On the other hand, the Portuguese
side had six different players starting for them.
The Spanish side featured their best goalkeeper and the captain Iker Casillas who was helped by Sergio Ramos on the right flank and Capdevilla on the left. Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol featured as the centre backs and they were assisted
by two holding midfielders, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets. Xavi Hernandez was the one who took control in the central attacking position and he was helped by Andres Iniesta who moved towards the centre of the pitch from the left flank in order to help the
midfield and the strikers. David Villa played up front as the sole striker and he was assisted by the Manchester City winger David Silva.
On the other hand, Portugal had Eduardo as their goalkeeper who was helped by Bosingwa on the left flank and Bruno Alves on the right. The Real Madrid defender Ricardo Carvalho was the central defender along with Joao Pereira. Carlo Martins
and Jose Moutinho featured in the centre of the pitch as Raul Meireles took his favourite attacking midfield position. Cristiano Ronaldo was playing as a left winger while the Manchester United winger Luis Nani featured on the right. Helder Postiga was the
one who played up front as a sole striker for the Portuguese side.
There were many opportunities for both the teams but it was simply seen that the pace of Portugal was simply unmatchable and the Spanish side were struggling against a fresh home side who had a lot of young talent in the squad. It was
seen right after two minutes when Luis Nani took a shot on goal and it was saved by Iker Casillas. The shot itself was unimpressive but the way the Manchester United winger ran towards the goal was simply fabulous.
The Spaniards weren’t shut altogether as they had their own moments. After 10 minutes, Andres Iniesta made a wonderful run from between the two centre backs as Xavi Hernandez lofted him a through ball. The Spaniard tried to shoot the ball
from the half volley and the ball just went past Eduardo and could not really find the target. Later, the Catalan giants came the closest to scoring the goal as a cross from the left flank by Andres Iniesta found David Silva with a free header inside the penalty
area. The Manchester City striker could not really head the ball into the net even though he had a great one-on-one opportunity as he saw the ball go wide.
On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo was performing at his best even though Gerard Pique was giving him a very tough time and did not let him penetrate into the box. However, the Portuguese captain had a moment six minutes before the half
time whistle as he easily made an extraordinary turn and chipped the ball above Iker Casillas; however, the ball which was about to go inside the net was headed by Luis Nani who was offside and the goal was disallowed leaving Ronaldo angry over his former
Manchester United team mate.
However, later the moment did come for the Portuguese side as Ronaldo got the ball on the left flank and he took a good swerving shot on goal which was well denied by Iker Casillas. The deflected shot found Carlos Martins feet and the
midfielder made no mistake in planting the ball into the net as the home side saw the World Champions trailing with a goal in the home ground of Portugal.
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