Match Review & Highlights: Spain 0-1 Switzerland

June 16th, 2010 | by: Daryl | Comments Off

This match is part of our series: World Cup 2010 Upsets

Big surprise. Great game. That’s my two sentence summary. But I’ll expand on it a little below.

Spain are (or should that be were?) many people’s favourites to win the whole thing. They’re the reigning European Champions after all. They were also expected to beat Switzerland without too much trouble. Yet somehow this finished Switzerland 1-0 Spain, with Gelson Fernandes scoring the all important goal early in the second half.

In fairness to Spain, they dominated this game: 63% possession, 24 shots, and eight on target, compared to Switzerland’s 37% possession, 8 shots, and three on target. So Spain had three times as many attempts on goal as Switzerland.

Spain also did the usual tac-tac-tac passsing that has made them so successful – and popular – in recent years. The difference is that with Fernando Torres injured, Vicente Del Bosque has switched to a sort of attacking 4-2-3-1 formation, with David Silva, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta all playing behind David Villa. It’s worked in recent weeks, but not today. Too much passing, and not enough scoring. Any Arsenal supporting Spain fans might have felt a little bit of déjà vu while watching this. Or whatever the Spanish for déjà vu is.

As if to prove that goals don’t have to be pretty, Switzerland scored one of the scrappist I’ve seen in a while in the 52nd minute:

A through ball bounced off Eren Derdiyok’s knee and set up a 50/50 with the onrushing Ikder Casillas. San Iker got their first but his save rebounded back into the six yard box and bounced in front of fallen Gerard Pique (who had taken a boot in the face as Erin Derdiyok fell while challenging) before Gelson Fernandes steamed in to poke home.

Del Bosque responded by introducing a striker with the name Torres on his shirt, but the man who miscontrolled several through balls bore no resemblance to El Nino. Seems he either wasn’t fit enough to return, or was asked to return in too difficult a situation.

Spain’s came closest to equalizing in the 71st minute, when Xabi Alonso did this to the crossbar…

… which at least confirmed these goal frames are well constructed.

Switzerland very nearly made it 2-0 a few minutes later, with Derdiyok hitting the post and causing a goalmouth scramble:

But despite easily the most exciting 90 minutes World Cup 2010 has given us so far, the score remained 1-0 Switzerland.

It’s worth noting that though Switzerland did a lot of defending, they weren’t especially negative. Ottmar Hitzfeld went with a old fashioned ish 4-4-2 (though I’m sure the players instructions were a little more complex than that) and the midfield and defence ran their asses off chasing Spanish passes. They even lost defensive mainstay Phlippe Senderos after 36 minutes, but Steve Von Bergen came on to deputize effectively.

No need for Spain to panic just yet, but I’m hoping to see Vicente Del Bosque go back to 4-4-2 and maybe partner David Villa with someone fitter than Fernando Torres and put La Furia Roja back on track for the Second Round.

Man of the Match: Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. Why? Spain nil. That’s why.

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