spain vs russia...
Spain vs Russia: 4-1
(Villa 20' 45' 75', Fàbregas 90+1'; Pavlyuchenko 86')
Spain: Casillas - S. Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila - M. Senna - Iniesta (Cazorla 63'), Xavi, D. Silva (X. Alonso 77') - D. Villa, Torres (Fàbregas 54')
Russia: Akinfeev - Anyukov, Kolodin, Shirokov, Zhirkov - Semak, Zyrianov, Semshov (Torbinskiy 58'), Bilyaletdinov - Pavlyuchenko, Sychev (Bystrov 46'/Adamov 70')
Whee, so many goals! =D
And OMG, no yellow cards at all! O_O
I wasn't too sure what to think of this game at first because there was hardly anything of Spain in the first twenty minutes. Instead, we got to see cool and self-confident Russians who played clever, accurate passes and set up a rather high speed. They had a couple of really excellent combinations, some even dangerously close to Casillas' goal. Zhirkov outdribbled Sergio Ramos several times, Iniesta always had three Russians around him when he had the ball, and Torres and Villa were practically invisible. Then, suddenly, the ball was cleared out of the Spanish box after a Russian attack in the 20th minute, Torres raced Kolodin for it, and just when Akinfeev left his goal, Torres passed the ball to Villa, who slammed it against the back of the net. This seemed to wake the Spanish up. During the rest of the first half, both teams fought with passion, attacks alternating on both sides. Three minutes after Villa's goal, Russia almost scored when Zyrianov, profiting from chaos in the Spanish box, sent a free shot against the goalpost. The Spanish counter attack almost led to the 2-0, but Akinfeev cleared the ball away from Torres just in time. Then, shortly before half-time, Russia got a corner but didn't make anything out of it, and Capdevila storms forward, passes to Iniesta, who waits for the perfect moment to forward it to Villa, and while the Russian defense start running out of the box, Villa advances towards Akinfeev and scores the second goal for Spain.
During the second half, Russia weren't able to keep up their earlier performances. The speed they had set up in the first half proved to be incredibly exhausting, and the score wasn't that motivating either, so they pulled back - and Spain took over completely. They mostly kept the ball amongst themselves with safe, short passes, and every time Russia put up the courage to intervene, the Spanish started a clever counter attack, like in the 75th minute when the ball was crossed to Villa, who put Kolodin to shame as he dribbled around him and scored the 3-0. (I totally aww'ed out loud when David Villa immediately ran to the bench to get some cuddles from Fernando Torres. ;)) Pavlyuchenko eventually made sure that Russia wouldn't leave without a goal and headed the ball past Casillas after a corner (and some help from Shirokov). Fàbregas almost risked a 3-2 when he lost the ball in the midfield and Russia started a (surprisingly) quick attack, but then he got lucky and made up for it, scoring with a volley after Xavi's shot bounced off Akinfeev's hands and landed in front of him. Granted, Cesc was in a clear offside position, but it's not as if the goal was decisive or anything, so I don't think anyone will complain. I think the victory was deserved like this (and Russia also deserved their one goal as a prize for their good effort), and I can't wait for Spain's next game. I don't want to make any premature bets, of course, but I think they have a chance because they don't just play well, they also play cleverly and use their sources wisely.
By the way: What the heck were Villa and Xabi discussing with the referee after the game? Did they want the matchball? Xabi looked really annoyed when the referee shook his head vehemently, so I was wondering. XD
(Villa 20' 45' 75', Fàbregas 90+1'; Pavlyuchenko 86')
Spain: Casillas - S. Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila - M. Senna - Iniesta (Cazorla 63'), Xavi, D. Silva (X. Alonso 77') - D. Villa, Torres (Fàbregas 54')
Russia: Akinfeev - Anyukov, Kolodin, Shirokov, Zhirkov - Semak, Zyrianov, Semshov (Torbinskiy 58'), Bilyaletdinov - Pavlyuchenko, Sychev (Bystrov 46'/Adamov 70')
Whee, so many goals! =D
And OMG, no yellow cards at all! O_O
I wasn't too sure what to think of this game at first because there was hardly anything of Spain in the first twenty minutes. Instead, we got to see cool and self-confident Russians who played clever, accurate passes and set up a rather high speed. They had a couple of really excellent combinations, some even dangerously close to Casillas' goal. Zhirkov outdribbled Sergio Ramos several times, Iniesta always had three Russians around him when he had the ball, and Torres and Villa were practically invisible. Then, suddenly, the ball was cleared out of the Spanish box after a Russian attack in the 20th minute, Torres raced Kolodin for it, and just when Akinfeev left his goal, Torres passed the ball to Villa, who slammed it against the back of the net. This seemed to wake the Spanish up. During the rest of the first half, both teams fought with passion, attacks alternating on both sides. Three minutes after Villa's goal, Russia almost scored when Zyrianov, profiting from chaos in the Spanish box, sent a free shot against the goalpost. The Spanish counter attack almost led to the 2-0, but Akinfeev cleared the ball away from Torres just in time. Then, shortly before half-time, Russia got a corner but didn't make anything out of it, and Capdevila storms forward, passes to Iniesta, who waits for the perfect moment to forward it to Villa, and while the Russian defense start running out of the box, Villa advances towards Akinfeev and scores the second goal for Spain.
During the second half, Russia weren't able to keep up their earlier performances. The speed they had set up in the first half proved to be incredibly exhausting, and the score wasn't that motivating either, so they pulled back - and Spain took over completely. They mostly kept the ball amongst themselves with safe, short passes, and every time Russia put up the courage to intervene, the Spanish started a clever counter attack, like in the 75th minute when the ball was crossed to Villa, who put Kolodin to shame as he dribbled around him and scored the 3-0. (I totally aww'ed out loud when David Villa immediately ran to the bench to get some cuddles from Fernando Torres. ;)) Pavlyuchenko eventually made sure that Russia wouldn't leave without a goal and headed the ball past Casillas after a corner (and some help from Shirokov). Fàbregas almost risked a 3-2 when he lost the ball in the midfield and Russia started a (surprisingly) quick attack, but then he got lucky and made up for it, scoring with a volley after Xavi's shot bounced off Akinfeev's hands and landed in front of him. Granted, Cesc was in a clear offside position, but it's not as if the goal was decisive or anything, so I don't think anyone will complain. I think the victory was deserved like this (and Russia also deserved their one goal as a prize for their good effort), and I can't wait for Spain's next game. I don't want to make any premature bets, of course, but I think they have a chance because they don't just play well, they also play cleverly and use their sources wisely.
By the way: What the heck were Villa and Xabi discussing with the referee after the game? Did they want the matchball? Xabi looked really annoyed when the referee shook his head vehemently, so I was wondering. XD