Czech Republic U21 0, Spain U21 2: Highlights and Match Comments

June 16th, 2011 | by: Ade C. | Comments Off

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how a good match by the Spain U21s looks like:

What a difference a crazy kid with a stupid haircut, called Muniaín, makes. And Mata, moving into a more central role. And Thiago, supporting Mata and also providing his own magic touches. And Javi Martínez, the absolute rock on which the team rests. And Adrián, who shook off the disappearing act he pulled against England. And De Gea, Montoya, Botía, Álvaro Domínguez, Dídac and Ander Herrera, perfect in their roles as supporting actors.

The improvement on the match against England was remarkable, and much of it can put at the feet of Iker Muniaín, who not only has crazy energy, but knows how to use it. Instead of the static Adrián and missing Jeffrén from the previous match, we were actually attacking from the very start of the match; Mata pushed forwards and left Thiago and Javi Martínez in charge of midfield… and it worked. It flowed, the Czech Republic had to sat back and resign themselves to take their chances on the counter, La Rojita actually gave a good show, and Adrián scored two beauties assisted by Mata.

Millá insisted with the Adrián-Parejo sub with 20 minutes to go, which doesn’t make much sense to me even if we’re winning -why throw the attack into disarray?-, and then Capel got a few minutes to let Muniaín get a rest from all the kicking, and Nsue came in for Mata as a time-wasting sub at the end. Bojan’s star seems to be dimming with La Rojita as much as it’s doing for his club.

England and Ukraine got a goalless draw, so we’ve now moved to the top of Group B, with 4 points to the Czech Republic’s 3. Still, we should probably aim for a win against Ukraine on Sunday, to try and cinch the spot in the semis and all that.

Here’s to hoping the improvement keeps up…