Filed under: FIFA World Cup, Chile, Spain
PRETORIA, South Africa — Spain is the best team at the World Cup, and they finished the first round right where they were supposed to, atop Group H. Striker David Villa is scoring spectacular goals, midfield maestros Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta are healthy and the Barcelona-based defensive spine of Gerard Piqué, Carlos Puyol and Sergio Busquets is both fearsome and skillful.
Yet through the first round and on Friday against Chile, Spain had moments where it wasn’t at its best. There was the surprising 1-0 loss to Switzerland in the opener, the lousy finishing that reduced a dominant performance against Honduras to a mere 2-0 win, and a 2-1 win over La Roja here at Loftus Versfeld that simply didn’t look as good as it should have. Spain has great players, but it will enter its round of 16 match with Iberian rival Portugal still looking for a signature performance.
Iniesta got the start on Friday despite suffering a leg injury against Honduras on Monday, and Fernando Torres began the game alongside Villa. This was the team Spain has wanted to field, and they needed it on Friday. It remained possible at kickoff that Spain, without a win, could miss the knockout stages.
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Chile started well, running harder than their opponents through the first 20 minutes. Loftus was a sea of roja, but the smaller contingent of Chile fans had plenty to cheer about during a promising opening engineered by the active Jean Beausejour.
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Fri, Jun 25, 2010
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