Spain 1-0 Portugal
What a fantastic game of football this one was. On the face of it, 1-0 looks like a boring, scratchy kind of win for Spain, but nothing could be further from the truth. For the football purist this had everything. Both teams gave their all - even the referee and his team had a good game. Spain dominated possession and it was the almost constant pressure which wore Portugal down. For their part, the Portuguese defended with intelligence throughout the game and were very dangerous on the counter-attack. In fact they were so dangerous on the counter that they probably had the better clear cut chances. That was until the 63rd minutes when after some slick interplay, the ball came to Villa in the penalty box. His first shot was saved but the rebound broke to him and was dispatched into the goal with the minimum of fuss. They say in life it's the little things which give the most pleasure and the best bit about this goal was not the cool finish, it was little flick of the heel from Xavi to redirect Iniesta's through ball into Villa's path on the left hand corner of the six-yard box. Genius.
After the goal, and there was half an hour to go, it seemed that all the wind had been taken out of Portugal's sail. Needing to chase the game, they couldn't muster a good chance until very late on into the game. Their game plan had to change now. Having been set up to keep Spain out and nick one on the break, they now knew that they had to chase the game therefore that this would leave gaps for the Spanish to exploit. As it was, the quantity of Spain's possession increased greatly and they closed the game out as efficiently as it's ever been done. Patience is a word missing all too much in football - Spain showed that it is a most desirable quality as they picked and probed around the Portuguese defence. Of course they had their fair share of luck too, but show me a good team which doesn't and I'll show you a team which hasn't quite achieved its potential.
