Spain 2 Peru 1

So I didn’t see the Spain-Peru match as I would have liked.

We can’t win them all, can we?

In any event, sounds like an impressive 2-1 victory by La Furia Roja over Peru.

On one count, Spain looked like world beaters. The interplay produced by La Seleccion was breathtaking at times and they took a deserved lead, often inches from adding further goals at several moments in the first half.

But by contrasts, they let Peru back into the game in the 2nd half. Awful defending did them in and if it wasn’t for Joan Capdevila’s goal in extra time, Spain would have been red-faced for sure.

With 15 minutes to go, Peru pulled an equalizer almost out of nowhere after poor defending from Spain. Valencia defender Carlos Marchena’s failure to clear the ball allowed Peru’s Hernan Rengifo to loop a header over the onrushing Real Madrid ‘keeper Iker Casillas and into the back of the net.

The match looked to be heading for a draw after Rengifo’s goal had cancelled out a first-half goal from Valencia striker David Villa but Capdevila smashed home from close range three minutes into injury time to secure the victory.

The victory extended Spain’s unbeaten record to 15 games before next month’s tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

“It was a shame we gifted them a goal as we wanted to keep a clean sheet,” Spain coach Luis Aragones told Spanish state television TVE.

Aragones changed his usual 4-1-4-1 formation and opted to play two strikers against Peru with Villa partnering Fernando Torres up front while Cesc Fabregas was sacrificed in midfield.

Villa was Spain’s most lively player in the first half and caused frequent problems for a weakened Peru side missing several players who had been handed lengthy bans for alleged indiscipline.

Barcelona midfielder Xavi almost put Spain in front when keeper Leo Butron fumbled a long distance shot, but the ball hit the post and rolled across the face of the goal.

It was Villa, though, who gave Spain a deserved lead seven minutes before halftime, angling a precise shot past Butron after being put in the clear by a great through-ball from Xavi.

But Spain failed to press home their advantage and their rhythm was further disrupted when Aragones made a raft of changes after the break.

Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla, Getafe midfielder Ruben de la Red and Real Zaragoza forward Sergio Garcia were all given their debuts in the second half. Good going, lads and welcome!

Spain will play their final warm-up game before Euro 2008 when they meet Team America in Santander next Wednesday. Hmm, who should I root for there?

Here’s player ratings from goal.com. I’ll give you two here for free. Click the link for the rest.

Villa – 8.5 – Energetic stuff from ‘El Guaje’, who has now stakes a claim towards a first team berth in Austria and Switzerland. Great goal, too.

Sergio Ramos – 8 – An efficient showing from the Real Madrid right-back. Not his best, but perfectly adequate.

Finally today, as we inch ever closer to the start of Euro 2008, we get another opinion piece on the Spanish side and their strange inability to win anything significant at the international level.

Today’s piece is by Graham Hunter and is published in Scotland’s award-winning independent newspaper (their words, not mine) The Sunday Herald.

Click the link for the full article. I’ll give you some here for free.

Spain is utterly, totally head-over-heels bonkers about fútbol.

Their media coverage is every bit as intense as here in the UK. In fact, so intricate is the analysis of any football competition that Spain qualifies for that every paper will carry a spread of graphics and copy detailing everything, every last thing, that the national team is going to take with it to Japan/Korea, Portugal, Germany and this time Switzerland and Austria.

The shin guards, the bibs, the chewing gum, the boots, the training cones, the jockstraps, the water bottles, the computer games if it is traveling it is listed in Marca or AS.

But the one thing which always puzzles seasoned watchers of the national side is why they never list the white flags, where they pack them and how they mysteriously seem to produce them when throwing a lead against Nigeria, losing on penalties to England, flopping miserably against Portugal or having a legitimate goal chalked off against Korea. Every two years Spain find a different way to end up with their faces dripping in custard – it is like the very best slapstick, you don’t know how it is going to happen this time, but you know it is going to happen.

If you live and work in Spain it is always the second or third question after the weather – can the football team finally punch their weight in this tournament?

This time, for the English pundits, of course they are going to leave the white flags in Spanish FA headquarters – Las Rozas, Madrid, 28230 Espana. But my advice is get over there and check in the cupboards or the laundry room just to make sure before you even place a 5 each-way bet.