Spain 6-0 Azerbaijan; “Get Ready South Africa”

Sure Azerbaijan may be ranked 140th in the world, but does it really get more emphatic than 6-0? Clearly it was boys vs. men as David Villa led La Furia Roja to yet another victory in front of some 25,000 spectators in Baku.

Three goals by David Villa, and one a piece for Albert Riera, Dani Güiza and Fernando Torres stamped our tremendous superiority on the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, so much so that even the home fans stood up and applauded.

An eight minute time frame decided this match as on the 34th minute Torres set up Villa for his first; his second followed four minutes later when he converted his chance which he created by his own sheer brilliance; finally his third came on the 42 minute as Fàbregas was fouled in the box which resulted in a penalty and of course it was easily taken care of by Villa, Villa, Maravilla.

It was a friendly match prior to playing in the Confederations Cup in South Africa, but there was a scare when Casillas just about dodged a kick mid-air when he made a brilliant save.

I guess we can’t boast about the victory too much considering it took over half and hour to get a goal which is pretty ridiculous considering it was the champions of Europe against a modest, Asian side. Then again, Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Silva who are the core of our squad, weren’t in the starting XI. Without our infamous playmaker Xavi, we relied more upon wing play through Riera and Cazorla which made the game a lot quicker than usual and overall was actually highly entertaining to watch (as usual, of course).

I’ll give Azerbaijan credit – they had heart, desire and faith but you can’t expect much against Champions.

We dominated from beginning to end but failed to create any dangerous chances until around the half hour mark where something just seemed to click. Their goalkeeper Valiyev made a few difficult saves before finally on the 34th minute Villa and Torres hooked up perfectly like they usually do and showed why they’re the best international striking partnership around. After that it was like the flood gates just burst open, because 4 minutes later El Guaje smashed a left footed strike which left Valiyev motionless as we celebrated our second goal. The completion of his hat-trick came on the 42nd minute when he converted a penalty with the greatest of ease. An eight minute hat-trick.. not too shabby.

The humiliation on the faces of the Azerbaijani players and coaching staff was evident and being a typical kind-hearted Spaniard, Vicente del Bosque acted accordingly. He took off David Villa for Sergio Ramos, Sergi Busquets for Cesc Fàbregas and Xavi for Joan Capdevila. He even introduced Pepe Reina to give San Iker a rest.

These substitutions only proved just how deep our squad is because on the 68th minute Riera scored, and three minutes later Güiza added another. Pretty boy Fernando Torres finished off the match as he added more salt in the wounds when he hit a picture-perfect chip over Valiyev which had even the Azerbaijani fans jumping on their feet to applaud such class.

La Furia Roja won, and pretty damn overwhelmingly too. Is there really any surprise? Probably not, but it’s still never a dull moment to watch such beautiful football being played. It’s also definitely a good foot to start out on before beginning our quest for the Confederations Cup later this week. This now means our glorious unbeaten run is stretched to 32 games – absolutely legendary.