CM10: The Red Fury

[m_vaughan]

Santi Cazorla makes Spain World Cup squad

Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla has been named in Spain's 23-man squad for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

The 25-year old has had an injury plagued 2009-10 season making just 13 appearances for the Yellow Submarines in all competitions and made his last appearance for La Furia Roja in October last year. He did return to competitive football at the end of March, but Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque did earlier hint that the player's lack of fitness may affect his World Cup chances.

But the former Real Madrid manager is convinced about the player's fitness and spoke on his selection to the press shortly after announcing the squad.

"Santi has made tremendous progress in the limited time he had available and is an important player for Villarreal and Spain. I am happy to have him back and ready in time for the World Cup because he is a very good player," said Del Bosque.

The player himself was delighted to hear about his inclusion.

"I was not sure because I did not play much this season and there were other players who had done well as well. To play in the World Cup is every player's dream and I am really happy I will be going to South Africa," said Cazorla.

Santi's inclusion comes at the expense of Valencia's Juan Mata who was selected for Spain's last friendly game against Sweden. The rest of the squad remains unchanged which means Barcelona's Victor Valdes is once again overlooked. Del Bosque though insisted that it is purely because of the extreme competition for places.

"Victor is a world class goalkeeper but unfortunately I can choose only three goalkeepers in the squad. Iker is our obvious number one, while Pepe Reina and Diego Lopez have also consistently done well for their respective teams. There are others like Andres Palop, Sergio Asenjo and Cesar Sanchez who have also missed out."

Spain World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers:
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Jose Reina (Liverpool, ENGLAND)
Diego Lopez (Villarreal)

Defenders:
Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid)
Joan Capdevila (Villarreal)
Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Raul Albiol (Real Madrid)

Midfielders:
Marcos Senna (Villarreal)
Sergio Busquets (Barcelona)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal, ENGLAND)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Jesus Navas (Sevilla)
David Silva (Valencia)
Santi Cazorla (Villarreal)

Forwards:
Fernando Torres (Liverpool, ENGLAND)
David Villa (Valencia)
Dani Guiza (Fenerbahce, TURKEY)
Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)

 

[hedger_14]

Nice start m_vaughan. Hopefully Spain can go on and win the World Cup.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Nice start sid, hopefully Spain can make it a double by winning the Euro 2008 and the World Cup. Really a great squad.

 

[m_vaughan]

Spain and Brazil are favourites - Pele

Footballing legend Pele has voiced his opinion on the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa.

32 teams will battle for the sport's most coveted prize but the Brazilian who has himself lifted the trophy on three occasions believes that Vicente Del Bosque's Spain and his own country coached by Dunga seem most likely to win the competition.

"At the moment Spain and Brazil have the best squads. Take any department - defence, midfield, attack, you'll see how these two sides have the best players and combinations," said Pele.

"Spain have the best two strikers in the world in David Villa and Fernando Torres and in Xavi Hernandez have a mastermind playing in midfield. Then you have the perfect holding man in Marcos Senna, a strong defence which is made even better by Iker Casillas, who according to me is simply the best.

"Brazil's strength however lies mainly in its midfield. There a lot of players with different styles, so the coach has a lot of options of variations he can consider both on the wings or in the center."

He then went on to suggest that he fully expects the African sides to impress in this competition.

"The African teams will know the conditions better. They are no longer the underdogs and African players are now dominating world football. I think they will do well and go far in the tournament," he added.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

To some extend agree with Pele there. Brazil and Spain are great sides but I feel England will atleast defeat one of them.

 

[m_vaughan]

Spain register comfortable friendly win

In the first of two friendlies before the World Cup, Spain eased to a 4-1 win over Uzbekistan at the Estadio Martinez Valero in Elche.

Guiza's goal put Spain 2-1 up before half time

Vicente del Bosque fielded a largely second string side for the game but even that was good enough to beat the Uzbeks in convincing fashion.

Iker Casillas, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa and Fernando Torres were some of the usual first teamers who started on the bench for this game as Barcelona's Gerard Pique led his side onto the pitch.

Nearly 38,000 fans flocked to the relatively smaller stadium located in Alicante, Spain to witness their national team, with just days remaining to the start of World Cup.

The home side and strong favourites for lifting that trophy impressed from the very beginning as midfielder Cesc Fabregas rattled the crossbar with a short from outside the box in just the 3rd minute.

The Spanish fans did have to wait for a bit under half an hour for the first goal which was scored by Fabregas' central midfield partner Sergio Busquets who latched onto a poorly cleared ball by the Uzbek defence and goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov had absolutely no chance.

The visitors did score an almost immediate equaliser much to the surprise of the majority present, with striker Pavel Solomin timing his run perfectly to stay onside and get too Stanislav Andreev's long ball before slotting the ball past the onrushing Reina into the far post.

Spain restored normalcy ten minutes later when Dani Guiza headed home from Andres Iniesta's cross.

Spain dominated the second half completely as some of the usual first teamers were brought in. Two of them, namely Santi Cazorla and Fernando Torres, managed to find the back of the net and put the game beyond Uzbekistan.

Spain (27 Busquets, 39 Guiza, 74 Cazorla, 85 Torres) 4-1 Uzbekistan (29 Solomin)

 

[m_vaughan]

Villa brace seals Spain win

Two second half goals from Valencia striker, David Villa, helped Spain to a 2-0 win over Latvia at the Vicente Calderon, in their last friendly before this year's FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The 28-year old who is highly tipped to sign up for Spanish and European Champions, Real Madrid, showed his class with two top quality finishes. With this he has now moved to within 6 goals of Spain's all time leading scorer, Raul Gonzalez.

Vicente del Bosque, who had started a second string side in the game against Uzbekistan, reverted more or less to his first choice lineup for this game. Liverpool's Fernando Torres who scored against the Uzbekhs after coming on a substitute, lined up alongside Villa upfront, while Santi Cazorla, Xavi Hernandez, Marcos Senna and David Silva formed the midfield. Raul Albiol was preferred to Carles Puyol at the center of defence next to Carles Puyol, while Alvaro Arbeloa kept Joan Capdevilla on the bench. Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas kept their places.

The visitors, as expected, did sit back and Casillas could just have not bothered to turn up for the game, as he did not have to make a single save all game.

Spain took control of the game from the go, and pretty much camped around the Latvian penalty area, but found it hard to penetrate what was effectively a 9-man defence.

Cazorla's cross from the right found Torres inside the box but the former Atletico Madrid striker failed to get enough power on his header there by allowing Aleksandrs Kolinko to take a comfortable catch.

Silva then cut in from the left and tried to wrong foot the Latvian goalkeeper but found the wrong side of the post. The Valencia man had another chance when fed a long ball by Xavi and although he managed to control it well, the ball was cleared out for a throw-in by Kaspar Gorkss.

Villa's powerful strike from just outside the box tested Kolinko but Spain failed to find the back of the Latvian net in the first half.

Both teams made changes for the second half, but Latvia ensured they were defensively strong to continue to weather the Spanish attacks.

Villa though had other ideas as 10 minutes after the restart, he was involved in a wonderful one-two with Silva to get past the Latvian defence, before he slotted the ball perfectly in a small gap between Kolinko and the near post.

Arsenal's and Barca youth product Cesc Fabregas' header in the 70th minute also beat Kolinko but not the crossbar, while Iniesta's shot off the rebound was well off target much to the disappointment of the crowd.

Fabregas then set up Villa and the former Sporting Gijon and Real Zaragoza men did well to aim for the far post but the lightest of touches from Kolinko was enough to deflect it away for a corner.

Villa did score his second just moments before full time when he wonderfully skipped past three Latvian defenders and hammered in a powerful strike that Kolinko this time could do nothing about.

Spain (Villa 55, 89) 2-0 Latvia

 

[m_vaughan]

Results

11-06-2010

Group A: Algeria (Djediat 11) 1-1 South Africa (McCarthy 70)
Group A: Greece (Kefas 90+1) 1-2 Chile (Suazo 49, Leal 55)


12-06-2010

Group B: Brazil (Juan 88) 1-1 Portugal (Quaresma 70)
Group B: Paraguay (Aureliano Torres 55) 1-0 New Zealand
Group C: South Korea 0-2 Germany (Gomez 22, Marin 80)


13-06-2010

Group C: Switzerland 0-0 Nigeria
Group D: Japan 0-0 Ivory Coast
Group D: Argentina 0-3 Serbia (Dragutinovic 29, Pantelic 55, Jankovic 83)


14-06-2010

Group E: Netherlands 0-0 Uruguay
Group E: Slovenia (Novakovic 16) 1-2 Denmark (Nielsen 44, Lovenkrands 62)
Group F: Italy (Pepe 79) 1-1 Mexico (Castillo 31)


15-06-2010

Group F: Honduras (Edgar Alvares 32) 1-0 France
Group G: Slovakia 0-0 Australia

 

[treva]

Go Serbia! Cracking win over the Argentines.

 

[m_vaughan]

Torres vanquishes the Black Stars

Fernando Torres fired a terrific hat-trick as Spain opened their World Cup 2010 campaign with an eye-catching 4-0 triumph over Ghana in Group G.

Vicente del Bosque, who had the luxury of leaving Andres Iniesta on the bench, watched on as his men carved the Africans open on countless occasions via some exemplary pass-and-move football.

Torres broke the deadlock on 8 minutes, tapping into an empty net after excellent work from David Villa down the right channel.

A pinpoint cross-field pass from Sergio Ramos then found Villa unmarked on the edge of the area, but after showing good chest control, the 26-year-old, under pressure from Samuel Kuffour, sliced his left-footed shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Ten minutes before the break, Spain doubled their lead as Torres latched onto David Silva's perfectly-timed through-ball to slip an effort under goalkeeper George Owu.

The Black Stars created their first decent opening soon after when Haminu Dramani got in behind Spain full-back Joan Capdevila on the left, but his cross into the centre was drilled wide by Eric Bekoe, who will have felt he should have done better.

And just before the half-time whistle, La Furia Roja were 3-0 up with Torres completing an impressive hat-trick, bamboozling his marker to roll home in style.

The Africans started the second half in confident fashion and Casillas was called into action to save Michael Essien's header, although the effort was straight at the Real Madrid custodian.

Full back John Pantsil did find the back of the net, but unfortunately his own, as he tried to keep out a grounded ball fed in from the right by Santi Cazorla.

With Ghana pushing forward as they needed to, Spain were beginning to find plenty of space on the counter-attack and following one breakaway, which resulted in a corner, Marcos Senna and then Dani Guiza both drew saves out of Owu.

The Euro 2008 winners despite easing off a bit in the second half held on to the 4-0 lead to signal their intent of winning the one trophy that has always eluded them.

Spain (Torres 8, 35, 45, Pantsil 66 og) 4-0 Ghana

 

[m_vaughan]

Results

16-06-2010

Group H: Cameroon (Douala 40, 62, 65) 3-0 North Korea
Group H: USA 0-0 England
Group A: Greece (Amanatidis 31, Salpigidis 75) 2-1 Algeria (Meghni 10)


17-06-2010

Group A: South Africa (Parker 16, 56, Vilakazi 32) 3-0 Chile
Group B: New Zealand 0-0 Portugal
Group B: Brazil (Kaka 22, 45, 81, Vagner Love 51, Alex 90) 5-0 Paraguay


18-06-2010

Group C: Switzerland (Nkufo 53, Frei 71) 2-1 South Korea (Lee 74)
Group C: Germany (Gomez 22, Kroos 67) 2-0 Nigeria
Group D: Serbia 0-0 Ivory Coast


19-06-2010

Group D: Japan (Morimoto 24, Komano 86) 2-2 Argentina (Tevez 50, Riquelme 62)
Group E: Uruguay (Sorondo 90+3) 1-0 Denmark
Group E: Slovenia 0-1 Netherlands (Babel 82)


20-06-2010

Group F: France (Silvestre 63) 1-0 Mexico
Group F: Italy 0-0 Honduras

 

[m_vaughan]

Favourites Spain held by Aussies

Spain's 8-match winning streak was brought to an end by a determined Socceroos side at Ellis Park, Johannesburg in their Group G encounter.

Vicente del Bosque's sides were strong favourites to maintain their strong form following the 4-0 thrashing of Ghana in their opening game. But they were stunned by 40-minute strike from Galatasaray forward, Harry Kewell.

David Villa struck within three minutes to level the scores before scoring again eight minutes after the restart to give his side the lead. But a late headed goal from Scott McDonald ensured a vital point for the Australians.

Del Bosque made no chances to the team from the first game despite injury concerns for Santi Cazorla. The Villarreal man was involved in the first real chance of the game when he fed a inch-perfect pass for David Silva at the far post but the Valencia man's volley only rattled the net from the outside.

Sergio Ramos and Xavi both then came close, while Mark Schwarzer cleared a dangerous Joan Capdevila cross as Fernando Torres sought to pounce.

But Australia took the lead against the run of play just five minutes just five minutes prior to halftime when Kewell got ahead of Raul Albiol and beat Iker Casillas with a powerful volley from Cazorla's cross.

Spain were stunned by the goal but responded almost immediately. Lucas Neill was adjudged to have fouled Xavi and Spain won a free-kick. The Barcelona midfielder took it himself and found Villa perfectly who took a shot on his first touch and successfully found the back of the net.

La Furia Roja looked for their second from the very moment the referee blew his whistle to start the second half. Torres almost got it when he beat the Australian offside trap but failed to round Schwarzer, who timed his run perfectly to deny the Spaniard.

He was unable to keep Villa out though a few minutes later when the Valencia striker pounced on the rebound after Cazorla's initial strike was punched away by the goalkeeper.

Spain then appeared to be on course to registering another comfortable win but failed to convert any of their chances. Substitutes Dani Guiza and Andres Iniesta both coming close but shooting wide while Pique's header off a corner kick rattled the crossbar.

And the Spanish were punished for not taking advantage of all those opportunities when in the 88th minute, Scott McDonald, once again against the run of play, headed home from Brett Emerton's cross to win his side a crucial point and keep their hopes of progressing to the knock out stages alive.

Australia (Kewell 40, McDonald 88) 2-2 Spain (Villa 43, 53)

 

[m_vaughan]

Results

21-06-2010

Group G: Ghana (Dramani 60) 1-0 Slovakia
Group H: Cameroon 0-0 USA
Group H: England (Rooney 2, 50, 74) 3-0 North Korea


22-06-2010

Group A: South Africa (Salmon 14, McCarthy 82) 2-2 Greece (Charisteas 41, Karagounis 90+1)
Group A: Chile (Armeno 59) 1-1 Algeria (Saifi 32)
Group B: New Zealand 0-2 Brazil (Fabiano 30, Ronaldinho 62)
Group B: Portugal (Veloso 87) 1-0 Paraguay


23-06-2010

Group C: Germany (Mertesacker 60) 1-0 Switzerland
Group C: Niegeria 0-0 South Korea
Group D: Ivory Coast (Drogba 29, Kone 39) 2-0 Argentina
Group D: Serbia 0-1 Japan (Tamada 44)


24-06-2010

Group E: Denmark 0-0 Netherlands
Group E: Uruguay (Forlan 19, Jorge Martinez 43, Pablo Garcia 63, Lugano 82) 4-2 Slovenia (Pecnik 50, Vrsic 89)
Group F: France 0-1 Italy (Pepe 15)
Group F: Mexico (Augusto 37) 1-0 Honduras

 

[m_vaughan]

Spain thrash Slovakia to set up England clash

Vicente Del Bosque's side needed just a point to seal their place in the round of 16, but emerged comfortable victors over Slovakia with goals from Santi Cazorla, David Villa, Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso.

For the third game in a row, Del Bosque, fielded the same starting eleven which meant that the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol would once again have to settle for a place on the bench.

Marek Hamsik started for the Slovaks despite being doubtful with a knee injury he suffered during the 1-0 defeat to Ghana which effectively had ended their chances of progression to the knock out stage.

A minute's silence was observed before the game for the victims of the recent earthquake in China.

Spain started off the better side, but it was Slovaks who had the first big chance of the game when Hamsik fed a wonderful throughball to Stanislav Sestak, who did extremely well to beat the Spanish offside trap but his poor finishing let him down, shooting wide of Iker Casillas' goal.

Sergio Ramos then sent a bullet header past keeper Pavol Kovac after Joan Capdevila whipped in a free kick from the left. Capdevila himself had a long range strike then punched away by Kovac a little while later.

Finally in the 36th minute, Spain's dominance led to the opening goal. Marcos Senna's inch perfect pass found Santi Cazorla on the right hand side, and the Villarreal man angled in towards the Slovak goal and calmly chipped the ball over the onrushing keeper and successfully found the back of the net. It was another impressive bit of work from a player whose participation in this world cup was at doubt because of an injury-savaged season.

David Villa and Fernando Torres then came close to increasing Spain's lead but both hit the wrong side of the post, and at the scoreline remained at 1-0.

They din't have to wait long after the restart to find the back of the net as David Villa's splendid run that saw him skip past as many as four defenders before poking the ball above Kovac and into goal.

Fernando Torres' header from Xavi's freekick made it 3-0 for La Furia Roja to take the former Atletico Madrid striker's goal tally in the competition to four, one ahead of Villa. Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso, who came on as a substitute scored the game's fourth goal, when he pounced onto a poorly cleared ball by the Slovakian defence, and perfectly found the top right corner of the goal.

Spain will now face England in the round of 16, who finished second in Group H after suffering a 2-3 defeat to Cameroon in their last group game.

Spain (Cazorla 36, Villa 50, Torres 60, Alonso 80) 4-0 Slovakia

 

[hedger_14]

Easy win there but it was always going to be pretty easy beating Slovakia. A bit unfortunate about drawing England in Round of 16 but I reckon Spain will win anyway.