Match Review & Highlights: Spain 1-0 Portugal

June 29th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

villa

Portugal looked equal to Spain for much of this game, and had their share of chances. Cristiano Ronaldo had a couple of strikes at Iker Casillas, and there was a moment where Tiago’s shot forced Casillas into a weak parry that almost allowed Hugo Almeida to beat him to the rebound. But only almost.

The longer the game went on, the more possession Spain seemed to have. Pass, pass, pass. Yet Portugal’s defence – unbreached in the group stage, even against Brazil – was a securely closed door. Secure that is until Andres Iniesta and Xavi unpicked the lock with quick and precise passing to send David Villa one one one with Eduardo:

I’m in absolute awe of that goal. The pace the ball moves at in such constricted space seems to break several laws of physics, and serves as a warning that Spain can work the ball beyond any backline that’s put in front of them. I hope Paraguay weren’t watching.

Extended highlights (via 101 GG):

Reactions to Spain 1-0 Portugal, at the Spain blog and the Portugal blog.

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Jorge-Martins/616185802 Jorge Martins

offside! And another dive by a spanish player equals to another red card in this WC of shame…First England, then Mexico and now Portugal…
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/NCYV7E6HKHMMSWO7E7UUCADINQ Rasha Omar

eduardo was the highlight of that game.

biased and proud ;)
Drewsef

I don't really get where all the offside claims are coming from. I watched the wide-angle part of the replay several times, and both Xavi and Villa appear to be exactly level with the last defenders when their respective passes come through. It was definitely a close one, but staying just incrementally onside and then bursting through is what great strikers do, and I think Villa did that here.

And even if he was slightly off (which I don't think it was, but hypothetically), considering the several massively botched offsides calls we've already had in this tournament, anything this borderline hardly registers.

Capdevila's dive was completely embarrassing though, and showed some extremely poor sportsmanship. He and Busquets are both dead to me. (Busquets' peek-a-boo act on Thiago Motta in the CL semis almost made me smash my TV.)
JoseJosue

It's interesting how every fan who's team loses immediately points out the flaws in the tournament and ends up essentially trying to invalidate the results of the tournament.

It literally happens every single World Cup. “OMG, my team lost because the linesman didn't call a hair's worth of offside on the striker! WORST WORLD CUP EVAH!”

Anyhow, the linesman you couldn't possibly see that offside from where the linesman was (because several Portuguese defenders were blocking his view). Benefit of the doubt is given to the attacker.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Piotr-Fraczek/1436150814 Piotr Fraczek

Definitely not offside. I would love to share a screenshot with you to demonstrate, but the players were on the same level when the pass occured. As sad as it sounds for Portugal — this goal is legit.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1572066128 Daniel Jordi Berrios

Just pointing out, being a Spain and Barcelona avid supporter, that the way that Spain plays, and especially seen in the goal scored today, is just like Barcelona. Even down to who's doing what, with Iniesta giving the pass for Xavi (both Barca players) and David Villa finishing it (the NEW Barca player). When people say that Spain have really popped up as a world power, I would just like to point to exhibit A, FC Barcelona's recent domination of the world game. Ever since that has happened, so has Spain. I'm not discounting the work of the Madrid/Liverpool/Sevilla/Valencia/etc. players, I'm just saying that as a fan that watches all of Barcelona's games and all of Spain's games, the two are very similar.
http://twitter.com/kurdt27 Kurdt Cassidy

It all came from the bitter fans that can't accept a defeat. So, will last night's ref get sent home too after that controversial red card?