The penultimate round of group games came to a close with Group H, as Chile beat a Swiss side, who were yet again as stubborn as ever, and Spain finally registered their first three points on the table.
Switzerland, who had pulled off a shock victory against the fancied Spanish, were once again sticking to their defensive strategy and hoping it would work against a Chile side that had impressed in their win against Honduras. In one sense, the Swiss side are pretty predictable: they usually stand and defend, defend, defend before breaking on the counter and trying to get a goal. Their tactics were no different this time around, even though their personnel may have been. Von Bergen took the place of the injured Philippe Senderos and injury-prone captain Alexander Frei was also recalled back to the side. West Ham's Valon Behrami, who had sat out the previous game, took the place of Barnetta in the starting eleven. Chile brought in star striker Suazo in an attempt to beat the Swiss with some stylish, attacking play with a little South American flavour.
Now, normally we like to think that a football match is between two teams right? Except, in this match, the referee: Saudi Arabian, Khalil Al-Ghamdi, seemed to want to get his equal share in the limelight, and showed from the first minute of the game that he was a no-nonsense, card-happy referee. A little too card-happy in fact. Al-Ghamdi issued 9 yellow cards during the game, averaging 1 every 10 minutes and inevitably a red was also thrown into the mix. To be honest, I'm surprised there wasn't more than 1 red, because there just seemed to be cards flying everywhere. At least he was consistent...
Unfortunately for the spectator, the game was very much stop-start due to this petty referee, who felt it necessary to whistle for every foul and award free kicks. This obviously suited the Swiss style of play much better as it prevented the Chileans from getting into any kind of rhythm. However, the Swiss were disrupted from their stubborn stance, by the sending-off of Valon Behrami who appeared to have put a hand to the face of Vidal. He was given his marching orders with a straight red, and really should have known better, what with this referee and the fact that if there's any kind of contact made with a player's face, then it's gonna be a sending off. He made his team's job a lot harder, as each man out there had to work that 10% harder for a whole hour more.
Captain, Alex Frei was also forced to be substituted, as a change in tactics was called for by Ottmar Hitzveld. To his credit, he didn't moan or whinge about it, and was pretty understanding as he realised his team needed a change. Hitzveld brought Barnetta on in his place and Switzerland were able to see how the first half without conceding, but without scoring either. The second half, saw some positive Chile substitutions, with coach Marcelo Bielsa sensing his side could split open the seemingly impenetrable Swiss bank vault of a defence and get the three points, that would pretty much seal their passage into the next round. He took off the ineffective and disappointing Suazo for Valdivia and took off Vidal for Paredes.
This turned out to be good thinking by the manager, who was able to get a bit more out of his side going forward. Alexis Sanchez was once again looking lively and willing to run at the Swiss defenders, and it looked like he had scored only to see his celebrations brought to an abrupt end by a correct offside decision, as the ball had taken a deflection of one of the Chilean players in the box.
Switzerland soon made history on the 67th minute mark, as they broke the record for having gone the longest without conceding a goal in a world cup finals match (not including penalties). Remarkably, they hadn't conceded a goal since 1994. However, the Swiss goal wasn't to stay impenetrable for long, as Chile finally scored with 15 minutes to go. Benaglio, who has been superb in the Swiss goal, came out to block Paredes, but Paredes was able to skip past him and supply the pass to Mark Gonzalez, allowing the former Liverpool man to slide the ball home, with only a Swiss defender left on the post.
The Swiss had gone so long without conceding, that they looked quite shocked at what had just happened. They were not used to it at all and now needed to find a way back into the game if they were to get at least a point. And, they nearly had it, as Derdiyok went ever so close to scoring, missing a sitter from 12 yards out. Chile could have sealed their win, at the other end, if their players weren't so selfish! They had some good chances, but Gonzalez in particular tried to do it alone instead of passing to his teammate resulting in an ear-bashing from Bielsa.
Credit must go to the Swiss for the way they have defended. It's not everybody's cup of tea to see them play like that. But it's their way. And, they have done well to have broken the record. In fact, they weren't far off from snatching a point themselves. They can still qualify, but will need to find their shooting boots from somewhere. Chile find themselves at the top of Group H, with a game against Spain still to come.
Talking off Spain - they got themselves up and running after an efficient victory against Honduras to get them on level points with Switzerland. Del Bosque changed his side after that defeat against the Swiss, bringing Torres in to play up front alongside David Villa and replacing the ineffective David Silva with Jesus Navas, who had looked good when he came on as a sub, against Switzerland.
Much like in their first game, Spain were the dominant side, playing largely in the Honduran third of the pitch. It was very rarely that Casillas, who had been at fault for the goal conceded against Switzerland, was called into action. They were dominant in possession and in the number of shots they had and could have scored far more goals than just two. Honduras were unable to challenge the Spaniards, who managed to get into their usual rhythm of short, sharp passes and patient play.
Fernando Torres, back in the side after the injury he suffered with Liverpool, had three glorious chances in the first half to get his side going, but he looked a little rusty with his finishing and lacked that clinical sharpness due to spending so much time on the sidelines in a frustrating season for the Kopites. Had he been on form, there is no doubt he would have been able to see those chances converting into goals, as the Honduran defence struggled to resist the Spanish Armada, as Switzerland had done so brilliantly. Honduras looked amateur at best, and were unable to string many passes together and pull themselves out of their own half.
David Villa, who just signed for Barcelona before the tournament, got his goal tally going with a goal scored just 17 minutes into the game. It was a great goal by Villa, who was wedged in between two Honduran defenders and still managed to get the shot away and on target, with just enough power on it, to evade the keeper. As I said, they could have been comfortable winners by the time half-time rolled around, with the amount of chances they had, but went into the break with just one goal to their name.
There was another "facial contact" incidence involving man of the moment, Villa himself who was probably thankful that the referee didn't spot this, and unlike in the Brazil game, chose not to act on it. Villa was seen to have slapped or put a hand in the face of Izaguirre, and would surely have been sent off had the referee or the assistant spotted it.
Luckily for Spain, he wasn't and it was Villa that got them their second, shortly after the break. Villa could have got the second hattrick of the competition, had he not missed from the penalty spot. Spain were awarded the penalty when Navas was brought down by Izaguirre, and David Villa missed despite sending the keeper the wrong way. The ball missed the left side of Valladares' goal by a few inches. That was the first penalty of the tournament, to not have either gone in or been saved by a keeper.
With the game, pretty much wrapped up, Del Bosque brought on Cesc Fabregas who made an immediate impact as soon as he was introduced to the game. He went close on two occasions to scoring and also set up chances for his teammates. Honduras, to their credit, did well to keep the score at a respectable 2-0, instead of capitulating as North Korea had done previously.
Spain, will now look to the clash against Chile, who are red hot at the moment, after securing 6 points out of a possible 6. Spain will also be keeping an eye on the other game, as both games very much rely on each other in determining who goes through and who misses out. The Group H final group games will provide intriguing viewing and could set up a Spain-Brazil encounter in the last 16. If Spain go out though, it will be another shock for Europe and will mean that the World Cup has eluded them yet again...
No comments:
Post a Comment