Dominant Spain defeat lowly Puerto Rico
Reuters - Wednesday 15 August 2012, 23:54
World and European champions Spain missed
a glut of scoring chances but still completed a 2-1 victory over
lowly Puerto Rico in their international friendly on Wednesday.
Santi Cazorla and Cesc Fabregas both struck in the opening
half as Spain applied continual pressure on the home team's
defence and the visitors could have been up by at least five
goals instead of just two at half-time.
Cazorla opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, blasting home
from long range, and Fabregas followed suit in the 45th minute
after a pinpoint cross from the right by Jesus Navas.
However, Puerto Rico goalkeeper Bill Gaudette kept his team
in the game with a string of fine saves and they eventually
scored their only goal, against the run of play, in the 65th
minute.
Marc Cintron latched on to a long goal-kick by Gaudette and,
on the break, buried his shot into the net.
Spain, despite playing a team 137 places below them in the
FIFA rankings and whose only four previous matches this year
have all been against Nicaragua, failed to come really close to
adding to the score.
A notable absentee for Spain was Barcelona playmaker Xavi,
who suffered from a niggling calf injury last season and was not
selected by coach Vicente del Bosque to allow him more time to
prepare for the La Liga season.
Juanfran also limped off with an injury.
Spain begin their qualification campaign for the 2014 World
Cup in Brazil away to Georgia on September 11 and are in a Group I
which also features France, Belarus and Finland.