Spain, World Cup Football 2010
JOHANNESBURG — Spain make it to the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time ever. David Villa was the man of the moment, though he left the moment a bit late as he scored the only accepted goal of the match against rivals Paraguay in the 83rd minute.
The first goal of the match was one by Paraguay, but it was disallowed. Cardozo made the shot and it looked good, but the referee declared him offside. Later examination of the shot replay suggests that the referee may have been mistaken.
Spain played a lacklustre game in the first half. Paraguay lead all the way and played a much better and more dynamic game. However, the spark that is Spain had not flickered out completely, and in the second half they showed much better spirit.
The only goal, when it came, was really quite amazing. Iniesta fed a difficult ball to Pedro, who kicked it into the post. David Villa caught it on the rebound and fired it back to the goal mouth. The ball hit the opposite post, bounced across to the first post again, before finally crossing the goal line to score the only goal of the game that counted.
There was two penalties in the match as well. Both of them had built-in drama too. Spain’s Gerard Pique hauled down Pataguay’s Oscar Cardozo and Paraguay was awarded a penalty. Iker Casillas dived left as the ball curved in the same direction and he saved the shot.
Moments later there was another penalty awarded. This time against Paraguay when Antolin Alcaraz took down David Villa. Xabi Alonso took the penalty shot, which keeper Justo Villar failed to save, but the referee forced a retake because of Spanish player encroachment. On the second attempt, Justo Villar dived in the right direction and made a save.
Spain’s next match will be against Germany. It will be played in Durban on Wednesday evening. The last time Spain faced Germany in a high profile match was in the Euro 2008 final when Spain won 1-0.
Related Posts:
