Spain see off Chile to go through
Reuters - Friday 25 June 2010, 21:47
PRETORIA - A brilliant David Villa scored
one superb goal and laid on another as Spain beat 10-man Chile
in a match that petered out into a pact of non-aggression to
send both sides into the World Cup second round on Friday.
Spain, having weathered early pressure from the Chileans,
took the lead in the Group H decider when Villa curled a sublime
ball into the empty net from 40 metres out on the left after
goalkeeper Claudio Bravo had raced from his box to clear from
Fernando Torres.
GEAR: Get
your Spain WC shirt
Villa, who took his tally to 41 in 61 internationals, laid
on the second when he took a pass to the left from Andres
Iniesta and pulled the ball back into the middle where the
midfielder shot low past central defender Waldo Ponce and Bravo.
Chile, playing on a knife edge in their efforts to impose
Bielsa's attacking tactics and spar with Spain as equals, had
midfielder Marco Estrada sent off in the 37th minute.
LIVE: Minute-by-minute
coverage
The hard-tackling midfielder earned a second yellow card for
a trip on Torres off the ball in the build up to Iniesta's goal,
putting the South Americans at risk of a pasting in the second
half.
However, coach Marcelo Bielsa, facing possible elimination
for his side, made two bold half time substitutions and one of
them, midfielder Rodrigo Millar, chipped over Iker Casillas to
pull a goal back just two minutes after the resumption.
Spain plugged away looking for further goals but the hard
working Chileans kept them at bay, protecting a goal that
ensured they would go through in second place in Group H on goal
difference even if Switzerland managed to beat Honduras. The
Swiss were in fact held 0-0 by the group's whipping boys.
TIGHT GROUP
Vicente del Bosque's European champions also became
protective of their lead going into the final quarter as they
shared six points with Chile at that point and the Swiss could
also potentially finish on six with tight goal difference coming
into play.
Spain, by winning the group having started out with a shock
1-0 defeat by Switzerland, go on to meet Portugal in the second
round, avoiding favourites Brazil, who won Group G.
"The defeat against Switzerland really made things difficult
for us ... if we had drawn that match I think the whole group
would have taken on a different look," Del Bosque said.
"I think the doubts did start to enter in when Chile
scored, the players started to play more cautiously ... but
we achieved our goal."
The tiring Chileans withdrew into their half but Spain
gradually reduced their efforts to score a third goal and had
long spells passing the ball across the back of their defence
close to the halfway line as the clock wound down.
This contrasted dramatically with the action-packed first
half in which Chile defenders Gary Medel and Ponce picked up
yellow cards along with Estrada, while Spain go through to their
next match free of bookings.
"The first 40 minutes were balanced in possession, in
control and goal chances," Bielsa said. "Evidently, afterwards
it was a different match.
"We also instinctively felt that to qualify was the prime
objective."
Follow FFT.com on Twitter
Join FFT.com on Facebook