Spain 4-0 Ukraine
Today Spain were both fortunate and very good .. and in Footbal you're bound to win convincingly if you are both.
Spain started very well, and were 2-0 up within 20 minutes. They deserved to be ahead at half-time with the way they were playing, but both goals had an element of luck:
Alonso (13): Alonso's touch was a bit lucky.. the goalkeeper got a hand to it, but couldn't keep the shot out.
Villa (17): A great free-kick that seemed to be covered or going wide, until it took a cruel deflection off the wall, giving Shovkovskiy little chance.
So, 2-0 at HT to Spain. The heat was as high as 34 degrees C during this match, and as we've seen in several matches before, this heat can have quite a tiring effect as the second-half wares on. Surely this would give some hope to Ukraine?
Within 3 minutes of the restart, the Swiss referee decided to 'wave his Spanish flag', awarding Spain a free-kick just because Torres couldn't keep his balance in the penalty area.
Vashchuk was punished for this.. In all fairness, he did ever-so-slightly pull on Torres' shorts, but cruically this didn't affect Torres' balance and was obviosuly outside the penalty area. The referee made a bad decision. Villa tucked away the penalty. Spain lead 3-0, Ukraine were down to 10 men and were effectively out of the match.
Spain didn't show any tiredness as the second-half wore on. They continued to play excellent Football and created many more chnaces, made all the more easier by Ukraine's misfortune. Raul came on after 55 minutes and had several chances to score - all of which were saved. Spain had the ball in the back of the net again after 64 minutes, in arguably the best shot of the match, but Senna's cracking strike was ruled out due to a foul on Yesercky. Spain made it 4-0 with 10 minutes left on the clock. Puyol showed amazing resiliance and determination to win the ball, and set-up a chance for Torres, who took his goal brilliantly - underrated!?
What did Ukraine offer!? .. Shevchenko couldn't get into the match. He simply didn't receive a good enough service from midfield. Rebrov came on late on, but didn't have much of a chance to make an impact either. Voronin had Ukraine's best chance of the match after an hour. His curled effort went inches wide of the far post.
Despite this performance, Ukraine should be able to progress. I'm not entirely sure what Tunisia are capable of, but I don't know of any good Tunisian players. Saudi Arabia shouldn't pose a problem for either Spain or Ukraine. Spain are capable of going a long way. They played some quality Football today and lasted the full distance in very hot conditions.
