Thursday, June 28, 2012

PORTUGAL 0-0 (2-4) SPAIN

In all honesty, Portugal played much better in the 90 minutes, killing the Spanish possession football to the extent that Xavi needed to be substituted. They also attacked more dangerously with Ronaldo and Nani while defended well by Pepe and Coentrao. However, I was wondering why Spain don't start with Pedro instead of Negredo. Spain are lucky to go to the finals. I kind of pity the luck of the Portuguese as they didn't deserve to get out.

In extra-time, Spain started to look like their old self where they kept possessions and were dangerous in attack. This is probably because fatigue was catching up with both teams so the marking was not so intense. Iniesta had a good chance to score which he missed in front of the open goal. Nani was always dangerous attacking from the right flank, giving Spain quite a lot of problems. Ronaldo seemed too selfless to not try to move into the penalty box directly, eventhough in some of the offensive attacks, I believe he could just run all the way in and try a shot or two. This is especially for the counter-attack near the end of full time where the Portuguese attacking force outnumbered the Spanish defence. He also wasted quite a lot of freekicks which were taken in front of goal.In fact, Sergio Ramos tried a freekick which looked much more dangerous than all those taken by Ronaldo.

This is the second match in the entire EURO2012 campaign so far that dragged into the lottery of penalty kicks. During the penalty kick, both initial Portugese shot by Moutinho and Spanish shot by Alonso were saved by Casillas and Patricio. Bruno Alves hit the bar before Fabregas kicked the ball as it deflected at the left post before going in. Ramos tried to mimic Pirlo by scoring a chipped shot too during the penalty.

Whichever team Spain face in the final, whether it is Germany or Italy, it will not be easy. I plea that they put Fabregas or Pedro from the start in the field!Spain need to play more offensively if they want to avoid another match that will end with lotteries of penalty kick out. Give us fans some goals man!!!

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