SPANISH INQUISITION FAILS TO SCALE THE SWISS ALPS

ESPANOL 0 – 1 SWITZERLAND

What the bloody hell happened!!!!! It had to be Spain all the way, the stage was set for them to outshine all for the first time ever in the greatest stage of them all. With a spectacular 10 – 0 qualifying record and a magnificent attacking unit, this should have been a goal fest for La Roja Furia. There was the prolific David Villa, menacing Xavi, the probing Andreas Ineista and the ever dangerous Xavi Alonso and add to it the fervor of David Silva, Jesus Navas and how could one forget the talisman Fernando “El Nino” Torres. Even the Great Wall of China would have crumbled under the attack but a bunch of skiers from the Alps is what it took to halt the Spanish inquisition.

With due respect to the Swiss players who played their heart out and more importantly stuck to their plan; the Spaniards only have themselves to blame for the loss. But again it will not be fair to say that Switzerland were lucky, as they played really well, the defense which was under constant Spanish bombardment was undeterred and when they got a chance to surge ahead, a momentary lapse in the Spanish defense was well punished by Gelson Fernandes. After a scuffle inside the D the defenders failed to clear the ball and when Iker Casillas let the ball past him Gelson just needed to tap the ball in to become the Swiss hero of the night.

Spain on the other hand played an elite brand of attacking football sans the finishing touch. If you had watched the Germany game against Australia, you would have thought that the germen attack is just a trailer of what the Spaniards can do. And precisely enough Spain did much better than the Germans barring the main purpose of scoring a goal. It was a game of missed chances for the Spaniards as Xavi maneuvered his wingers Iniesta and David Villa later Jesus Navas superbly. But Iniesta looked bit a lackluster though he provided some moments of brilliance. David Silva on the other hand was more penetrative of the two but his shots were not on target. He was replaced by Jesus Navas in the 62^nd minute but he also was man marked superbly and had seldom chances at putting the long ball inside the D. David Villa had a bad start in the first half and it worsened in the second. Villa was a shadow of himself in the first and in the second he was seen dominating sparingly. His shots also were wide. Torres came in with the loudest vuvuzela welcome one could imagine and he started of superbly with some fierce off the ball running but his lack of match practice was evident. The entire evening for Spain could be summarized as a night of spoiled chances with a real chance at goal coming from Xavi Alonso late in the second half only to be denied by the post.

With possession for over 60 minutes of the game and 12 corner kicks Spain had to put one in but failed to do so. The Swiss on the other hand had 2 real chances and were able to convert one and the other was nearly in, when a brilliant off the ball running by Eren Derdiyok lead to a split in the Spanish defense and he then later dribbled his way past the world’s two best defenders (Piyol & Pique) to calmly tap the ball past Iker casilllas only to be denied by the post.

In the end Swiss will be happy and Spain will come out all guns blazing against Chile and Hondarus and the World Cup will continue to bring out the best and the worst of every team.

http://www.merinews.com/article/spanish-inquisition-fails-to-scale-the-swiss-alps/15823346.shtml