Spain

Spain 1-0 Iraq; “Bombs over Baghdad”

I don’t want to use any cheesy war jokes but I find Iraq such an interesting nation, no one can knock their fighting spirit. You know how America has been bombing the shit out of them for the past 7 years but still can’t win? Well we did one better – we dominated possession, shots and just about every other statistic imaginable and although it wasn’t an emphatic score line like that against New Zealand, we came away with all three points.

The win meant we have now equalled France and Italy’s record win streaks of 14 consecutive matches. Our unbeaten run has also stretched to an impressive 34 matches but most importantly the win has guaranteed us a place in the semifinals.

A few changes to the lineup as Marchena slid in at centre-back for Raúl Albiol, Piqué replaced Puyol, Cazorla for Fàbregas and Mata for Riera.

Iraq played boring and defensively the whole match but even the best defenses can’t stop La Furia Roja. Overall we did actually play a bit slower too, not sure what it was because we made 4 changes to the starting XI so fatigue shouldn’t have been too much of an issue.

David Villa was clearly the man of the match as he was set up several times by Mata, then Cazorla but just couldn’t execute that final touch.

We headed into the brake unable to break down the Iraqi’s and deadlocked at 0-0. It didn’t take long after the re-start though for El Guaje to finally capitalize on his chances. Joan Capdevila put in another pin-point cross like he did for Torres in the first game except this time it was Villa who got his head on the end of it and put it in the Iraqi goal to put us up deservedly, 1-0.

Before the final whistle we had a few more chances through the likes of Torres, Dani Güiza, Juan Mata and Xabi Alonso but it was nothing doing as the game ended 1-0 in our favour.

Villa’s goal means he is now the second highest goal scorer in Spanish history only behind Real Madrid captain Raúl.

We now focus on our last group match against host nation South Africa where I personally think Vicente del Bosque will rest some of our key players to make sure we’re prepared for the tougher competition from group B.

Speaking of group B, second spot is really up from grabs in regards to who we’re going to play. Egypt’s 1-0 win over Italy today adds some excitement to the tougher of the two groups and maybe we’ll be playing the African Champions next week in the semi-finals. I watched the game and personally thought Egypt looked really solid, especially their goalkeeper. Overall they’re a very determined side who probably did deserve to win against the Azzurri and it may be crucial as Brazil look spoil Italy’s dreams in the final group match.

Regardless of who we play, if we stick to our approach I don’t see a team in this tournament who can match up to us. We’re on top of the world for a reason and I don’t expect to be moved anytime soon.

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