Spain Archive

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The Final Chapter

By
Omar Al-Duri
– July 12, 2010
31 days 63 games and the 8th...

31 days 63 games and the 8th nation to step up to the throne for World Domination is Spain.After 120 minutes,12 yellow cards,1 red card and 1 Goal Spain emphasised that the game can be played beautifully,technically and efficiently and at the same time successfully.Ironically Spain are the lowest scoring team to win a World cup yet one cannot ignore or dismiss the control,dominance and persistence in playing the beautiful game.Being often labelled “the greatest team never to have won the World Cup”has now evaporated.Unfortunately for Holland they still have to live up to reaching three World Cup finals and finish Runners up on all three times.1974,1978 and 2010 will be in the dutch shattered hearts for a very Long time until their next chance to compete for the Worlds most prestigious Trophy in which the team will be refurbished.The Dutch were bidding to be the only nation since Brazil in 1970 to to go through World Cup qualifying and the finals unbeaten.Barcelona have dominated the domestic charts in terms of style,elegance and total football and Spain emulated that not only in Europe but in the World.For many years Barcelona were based on Dutch philosophy adopting Johan Cruyffs class entertaining the World and passing over his legacy to the youth-approaching the big stage with no fear with an attitude if you are good enough age is not an issue.Today players such as Iniesta,Xavi,Puyol,Fabregas and Villa all appear as giants regardless of their age highlighting simplicity in the beautiful game is an art form and football is to be played with Passion,touch and finess stroking the football the way the Brazilians used to in the 70s.

Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela was present to observe arguably the sporting world’s most gargantuan event, the kick-off signalled by the whistle of English referee Howard Webb, who would play an active role in the first period.The Netherlands could not get a grip on the game but were helped by a spate of yellow cards from referee Webb that disturbed the rhythm of the match.Webb booked five players in the opening 28 minutes, although several crude challenges left him with little option.

Dutch enforcer Mark van Bommel was booked after going through the back of Iniesta, while Nigel de Jong was lucky to escape red after planting his foot in the chest of Xabi Alonso.Much was said bout the referees performance and I’m sure alot of criticism will be directed at him but i felt he handled the final in the only way he could in the earlier stages.Sure he made a few mistakes keeping Van Bommel on the pitch and not red carding De Jong but as players they should have more responsibility being on the World Stage.Football often evens itself out and it did as i felt Puyol could of been sent off for a “rugby like” desperate lunge on Robben as he was clear through on Goal and actually stayed on his feet to attempt to score and round the keeper.Pundits could argue that if Robben goes down and gets the decision Spain lose their inspirational defender and the game is turned forcing Spain to sacrifice an attacking option for a defender.As the tension rose, Sneijder made a crucial intervention when he slid to snatch the ball away from Iniesta.With four minutes remaining, Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas entered the fray in place of Alonso. The alteration, however, failed to prevent the fixture reaching extra-time, with Robben and Ramos both left to reflect on what might have been following their respective clear-cut opportunities.Fabregas presence and energy influenced the final as he showed signs of class causing all sorts of problems for the Dutch defence.There has been alot of speculation where his future lies and his performance would certainly prove his value in such a big game.Andres Iniesta’s strike with four minutes left of extra-time fired Spain to World Cup glory for the first time in their history as they vanquished Holland in a fractious final at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium.Iniesta drilled his right-foot strike across goal – but the Dutch were incensed after referee Howard Webb had failed to award their side a corner moments earlier when a free-kick took a sizeable deflection off Cesc Fabregas.

However, Euro 2008 champions Spain, who conceded only two goals during the tournament, deserved their victory after gradually taking a grip on a tense and bad-tempered contest that produced 14 yellow cards with Johnny Heitinga sent off on 109 minutes after picking up a second yellow card.Fabregas slipped a pass to his right, and waiting was Iniesta. The Barcelona tactician took one touch before planting the ball past Stekelenburg with venom sparking delirium from the Spanish players as they completed their mission for world domination.Ilker Casillas could not contain himself as tears of joy and delight sparked of a wonderful campaign for the Captain as he witnessed a chapter of World domination come to a close.Having previously lifted the European Championship it was his time to lift the World cup 2010 As Spain became Legends and will be remembered for generations to come as the CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD.

Thank you for your wonderful Support and thanks to Emiratweet for giving me the freedom to express myself.

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Spain vs Germany

By
Omar Al-Duri
– July 8, 2010

Spain took the next step towards footballing immortality as they booked a place in their first World Cup final following a 1-0 semi-final victory over Germany in Durban.Flair, culture and aesthetics have underlined the rise to prominence of the European champions and the irony at the Moses Mabhida Stadium was therefore palpable as a no-nonsense Carles Puyol header settled the contest in the second half.Vicente del Bosque’s side won their fourth straight game 1-0 and will now play the Netherlands in Sunday’s final at Soccer City.Spain deserved their victory after controlling huge periods of the match, but once again it was far from a vintage performance.The Germans have been by far the stand out team this tournament overcoming the odds to combine a mixture of efficiency and explosive counter attacking .However ,tonight there was only one team that stepped up to the plate to fulfil their destiny and that was Del Bosques Spain side.I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the Germans master Class and that isn’t frequent, that a football student says that but they have displayed class.Performances all over the field from Bastian Schweinsteiger who has been my pick of the bunch to Mesut Ozil who has defined what a creative midfielders attributes are.Spain on the other side like Barcelona at Club Level are a team that football coaches all around the world show videos to the up and coming soccer stars on how to keep possession,pass the ball,attack the ball and defend as a unit from the furthest player up the field (David Villa) to the solid centre back (Carlos Puyol).Spain coach Del Bosque chose Wednesday’s tie to drop the out-of-form Torres, drafting in Barcelona’s lively young forward Pedro and deploying David Villa as a lone striker.And while Del Bosque’s team certainly looked comfortable as they worked the ball around midfield, Germany showed excellent shape and discipline, and were rarely dragged out of position.The Euro 2008 champions, who defeated Germany 1-0 in the final of that competition, should have scored a second after striking with the sort of counter-attack that had been a trademark of their opponents’ play in this competition, but Pedro failed to pick out a completely unmarked Fernando Torres.Torres had come under the spot light recently after having a frustrating time but looked eager to right his critics wrong and what a way to display that if he plays in the final against Netherlands.Torres scored in the final of the European Championship after receiving criticism and silenced the doubters with the winner against Germany.Vicente del Bosque’s pre-tournament favourites dominated possession and managed to quell the threat of Germany, surely making the group-stage defeat to Switzerland feel like a lifetime ago for those at home in Europe.

The final with Holland will now represent a clash between two of the continent’s historical underachievers on the world stage, with the Total Football of the Oranje famously failing to succeed in finals in 1974 and 1978.It will also mean that a new winner of the World Cup will be etched into the history books come the conclusion of events in Johannesburg’s Soccer City at the end of the weekend. Spain 1 Germany 0

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Spain vs Paraguay

By
Omar Al-Duri
– July 4, 2010

David Villa snatched a late winner to book Spain’s first appearance in a World Cup semi-final as they beat Paraguay in a largely disappointing quarter-final tie that didn’t live up to recent expectations.Spain have hurdled through recent challenges and seem to have just the right amount of resistance to cope with their opponents but will have to do more than that against Germanay.Spain head coach Vicente del Bosque name an unchanged starting XI, despite pressure to remove the mis-firing Fernando Torres. Chile, meanwhile, made six changes to the team which beat Japan on penalties. Among those alterations, forward trio Roque Santa Cruz, Lucas Barrios and Edgar Benitez all dropped to the bench.In truth, it was a brief flurry of excitement that was largely out of kilter during a game that saw relatively few other opportunities.

Spain may have reached a World Cup semi-final for the first time – their fourth place in 1950 was after a round-robin stage – but they will surely need to improve if they are to defeat in-form Germany in Durban on Wednesday.

Their famed passing game was largely absent, while the out-of-form Fernando Torres was withdrawn after 56 minutes.Paraguay won a penalty when Gerard Pique pulled down Cardozo in the area. The central defender was rightly booked for the misdemeanour before Cardozo dusted himself to take the spot-kick, only to see the strike saved by Casillas – although no re-take was awarded despite obvious encroachment from Spanish players.Almost immediately up the other end, referee Carlos Batres again pointed to the spot, this time for a foul committed by Alcaraz on Villa, with the former arguably lucky to only be booked and not dismissed for seemingly denying the latter a goalscoring opportunity. Xabi Alonso stepped up and slotted in, but, ironically, the official this time wanted a re-take for marginal encroachment.
Alonso trotted up once more but Villar denied him. The goalkeeper dove to his left to parry and the ball spilled in the penalty area. Fabregas aimed to fire in the rebound but he was wiped out by Villar before the ball finally was removed from danger. The referee, however, staggeringly saw nothing wrong with the challenge on Fabregas.

Villa’s goal after 82 minutes – his fifth of the tournament- struck one post, rolled across the goal-line and hit the other, before finally nestling in the net and came seconds after substitute Pedro had also hit the woodwork.Villa is really establishing himself especially having just switched to the Spanish Giants Barcelona with a big price tag. Spain 1 Paraguay 0

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Spain vs Portugal

By
Omar Al-Duri
– June 30, 2010

Spain advanced into the next round with a solid display against Portugal without even excelling.Some may argue that Portugals depleted team produced a lacklustre performance overshadowing their 7 goal battering earlier in the tournament.There was a half-hour spell during the second half of Spain’s victory over Portugal that ought to have set the alarm bells ringing for the seven other nations left in this World Cup – particularly those from South America.Portugal were the only team left in the competition yet to concede a goal and were frustrating Spain in the much-anticipated second-round showdown between the Iberian neighbours.Shortly before David Villa scored the goal that put the Spanish into the quarter-finals, something visibly clicked for Vincent del Bosque’s side and they began to look like their old selves for the first time since arriving in South Africa.


It is not that the European champions were misfiring badly until then, well not in the manner of the likes of England, Italy or France at any rate. I still saw more pretty passing patterns from Spain in the first 45 minutes at Cape Town Stadium than Fabio Capello’s men managed in two weeks, it is just that they seemed unable to make their dominance in possession count. Later in the dying seconds of the game Portugal’s hopes were over when referee Hector Baldassi gave Costa his marching orders for apparently lashing out at Capdevila.The difference between the two was Spain’s Patience, precision and confidence to play the game the way they know how to, in spreading the play and keeping possession frustrating the Portuguese and playing that killer ball when desired to finish their chance. Spain 1 Portugal 0

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Spain vs Honduras

By
Omar Al-Duri
– June 22, 2010

With the weight of the world on their shoulders the European Champions were anxious to erase the opening disappointment against the Swiss and unfortunately for Honduras they were the victims to this masterclass.Unlike alot of nations when you look at the array of talent amongst the squad they possess a back up to each position on the field with world class stars waiting to prove their worth and do their nation proud.David Villa struck twice as Spain got their World Cup campaign back on track with a comfortable victory over Honduras, but with more clinical finishing the Euro 2008 champions could have scored a hatful.Barcelona new boy Villa struck either side of half-time, and missed a second-half penalty, as the Spanish boosted their hopes of reaching the last 16 ahead of their final group game against table-toppers Chile.Playing with an intensity that was badly lacking against Switzerland they swarmed all over Honduras and could have been 3-0 up by the time Villa eventually scored, as Fernando Torres mis-kicked, Sergio Ramos headed over from point-blank range and Villa’s 25-yard screamer cannoned off the crossbar.Its amazing how confidence plays a big part in the game as every player wanted to touch the ball and make an impact having not taken responsibility in the first game.With the game won Vicente del Bosque made changes and the introduction of Cesc Fabregas almost lifted the roof off Ellis Park when, 16 seconds after being introduced, he beat the offside trap and rounded the keeper only to see his shot hacked off the line by Chavez.I cant remember watching a side pass the ball as fluent as Spain despite being over elaborate at times on front of goal,it comes as no surprise with a passing rate of 88.8 % and possession of 64.6 %.The best is yet to be seen but Spain may just have turned the tide and look for better games to come. Spain 2 Honduras 0

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