Spain 3, Lithuania 1, Or, We Still Got It Goin’ On

October 9th, 2010 | by: Ade C. |

Do you think the RFEF has a script for situations like this? It all looked very familiar last night…

La Roja played well, Lithuania defended with 9 men, La Roja missed a lot of chances, Lithuania were saved by the goalpost, La Roja finally scored, Lithuania scored in a counter, La Roja woke up and put their accuracy to the test to win the match, Lithuania shrugged and said, ‘hey, what did you expect?’.

Pictured: three goals, two assists, lots of talent.

In his triumphant return to his home town of Salamanca, Vicente del Bosque saw his double-pivoty plans foiled by Xabi Alonso getting the flu, so he played Casillas, Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, Capdevila, Busquets, Iniesta, Cazorla, Silva, Llorente and Villa.

As I said, even with this more attack-minded team, it was business as usual. Spain controlled the game, with over 70% possession, but Lithuania defended in numbers, seeing in the goalposts allies to utterly frustrate Sergio Ramos and especially David Villa. The good news was that Iniesta was having, as it might be the usual with him, a brilliant day, that Cazorlita showed no lasting sequels of having missed the World Cup, and that the Villa-Silva connection seems to have survived their separation at Valencia.

Lithuania barely had two chances curing the first half, one of which was quickly snuffed out by Capdevila (who had a good day on defence while helping out Villa in the attack quite a bit), whilst Casillas and then the defence saved the other.

For all the domination and the chances and the goalposts, though, the first half finished 0-0, after David Villa missed the unmissable on the rebound after a Llorente header.

Pictured: a very frustrated man.

No subs at half-time, and we barely had time to get into it when Fernando Llorente scored a great header after a The Ramos assist in the first minute of the second half. This seemed to be the sign for Spain to start a goal-fest, but instead it was Lithuania who scored the first goal on La Roja in their five encounters.

The team was so focused on doing their own thing, so unconcerned by Lithuania’s attack, which basically consisted of leaving Darvydas Šernas all alone while they defended, that Puyol quickly found himself the last man standing in a quick counter, and he couldn’t keep up with Šernas’ speed, leaving the Lithuanian to rifle one past Casillas.

But not a minute later, Llorente ‘Il Bello’, not willing to let anyone steal the thunder from him and his amazingly tight shirt, scored another brilliant header, this time to a Cazorla assist.

All too aware, this time, that Lithuania could use the counters to their advantage, La Roja focused on getting a bigger advantage, and though Villa had more chances to finally equal Raul’s goal-scoring record with La Selección, he and goal-scorer Llorente were subbed out for valencianistas Aduriz and Pablo Hernández, so it was down the talented David Silva to get the third, jumping twice his own height (that is, to about Llorente’s height when stooped) and scoring with the third brilliant header of the evening, smack into the corner of the Lithuanian goal.

Pictured: a brilliant goal.

The Ramos, however, injured himself giving Silva the assist for his goal, and had to be quickly subbed out for Arbeloa as he was limping noticeably. It is with great relief, though, that I can tell you that it was only a small contusion and that he should be ready for next week’s game at Hampton Park against Scotland.

There were no more threats by Lithuania in the last few minutes of the game, no real chances for Spain either. The final scoreline was a 3-1 that, whilst not fully reflecting Spain’s control of the game, gives us the three points and a warm feeling of satisfaction.

The other match for Group I, Czech Republic vs Scotland, finished 1-0, so at the moment we are leaders of our group with 6 points in 2 matches, with our next challenge, Scotland, second.

(thanks to uefa.com for the nifty table!)

I have to admit I quite liked the match. Unliked what happened against Argentina, when the absence of key players seemed to sink the team into chaos, I can honestly say that last night La Roja barely missed, say, Xavi, Alonso and the double-pivot, or Fernando Torres (Torres who? We already have a Fernando that scores, people!). Let’s hope that we can continue with this trend against Scotland, and that Del Bosque will keep on bringing in new (Aduriz) and old-new (Cazorla and Pablo H.) faces!

Did you watch? Did you like it? What did you think of Del Bosque’s adaptation to the injury-caused absences?

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ROD

It shows the quality of Del Bosque as a manager and still as underrated as a coach there is in all of football to adapt and change the formation and the personnel. The game reminded me of those WC games where they absolutely hammer them in the first half but they can't finish. This Fernando that played should be the undisputed starter at the moment because Torres just can't stay healthy and its not right that a player that can't stay fit and every time he's on the field he's a ticking injury time bomb waiting to happen.
James

Basically a good game though I thought Spain could have done better in the first half. It's only in the 2nd half that Spain find it's rhythm. But the goal conceded was really unnecessary. Lithuania counter attack caught our defenders sleeping /MIA and took full advantage.

Is Pique having some kind of identity crisis? While I understand if his team is falling behind, by all means go forward to help the attack. But nowadays, even with the scoreline leading, he also charge forward as if he is a centre forward to try his luck on goal. Hey man, you're a defender first thing first. Go back and guard the backyard!

Villa on the other hand is kind of showing a worrying loss of form, not for lack of trying though. Just not lucky. Problem with strikers are that the more they try too hard to get a goal, the worse their shooting accuracy become and the less likely they will score goals.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Yes, Del Bosque, for all his resemblance to a walrus, has a fine tactical mind and his subs and replacements are usually great.

And I can't help but agree with your assesment about the Fernandos. Let's keep Llorente for the moment!
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Spain always seems to put in sub-par performances in the first half, and that doomed us against Argentina, for example, but at least we make up for that during the second halves!

Piqué is having some sort of crisis, yes. I keep asking myself if he's made a bet to score a fixed amount of goals before a certain date, because while before his forays into the attack were rare (and all the more valuable for it), he seems to be doing that more and more often now, sometimes neglecting his position. And not even Puyo can keep him in place!

Villa's problem is scoring anxiety, a disease that seems to be running amok between the Barça strikers. Hopefully he'll get over it soon, pulverise Raul's record and forget all about this goalpost-kicking mood, because when Villa gets frustrated, he loses his temper easily and could get himself sent off (already happened at Barça!).
ROD

Does Del Bosque also look a little bit like droopy dog the cartoon?
Its not fair for Llorente who scores and makes an impact most of the time he's on the pitch to get put on the bench for Torres who sometimes feels as if he is a sniff healthy he starts.
Vida

I actually like this line up better than the WC line up (which I loved) because the front five were fluid and all over the place. Also, Silva and Cazorla are amazing and it's a crime to keep them on the bench.
eternally_tmh

Happy with Spain's performance. It goes to show, even with the absence of key players , we can still manage to make up for it with other players who are just as worthy to be in the starting XI.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

If Droopy Dog had a moustache, it'd be a perfect likeness!
I think that with Llorente's success now, especially when compared with Torres' poor form and constant injury problems, he will get more recognition and maybe Del Bosque will think twice before benching him again.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Well, both line-ups have their advantages and their disadvantages. Certainly we got the see the pros of having a defensive double-pivot when we played Germany, for example! But against teams which aren't as attack-minded, I agree that this line-up works beautifully.
The problem with Silva, Cazorla, Fàbregas, etc., is… who do you bench to get them to play? You can't bench Xavi or Iniesta, can you? So, unless one of those two is injured or suspended, you get wodnerful players benched… it's not fair, but that's our fault for having so many great midfielders cluttering up the place!
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Yes, one of Spain's fortes is their wealth of brilliant players waiting on the wings for their chance.
Ryan

I think that the US loss in the Confeds Cup really committed Del Bosque to the double-pivot. Busquets has grown a lot in the past few years, however, so maybe Del Bosque'll let him hold the single DM slot and show the more fluid-flowing Spain more often?

I'm guessing with Alonso fit we'll be seeing the safer double-pivot though…
http://spain.worldcupblog.org/ Ade C.

Yes, Alonso has got over his flu or whatever it was, so I would bet on Del Bosque's moustache that we'll see the double-pivot again against Scotland. Maybe a Cazorla-Busquets-Alonso-Iniesta midfield, with Villa and Llorente in front?