Perfection.

October 17th, 2009 | by: Anthony | Comments(2)

So yes, to round up the World Cup qualifying round for next year in South Africa we won both of our matches. 30 points, 10 matches won, and a spot in the World Cup next year has to prove that we’re definitely contenders for the biggest championship in international football.

We first took on Armenia in Yerevan in which we came out on top but not without a fight. Then again, having said that, the scoreline did not accurately reflect how the game went. We only came out with a humbling 2-1 victory but it wasn’t Armenia who defended or played well, rather us who could not finish the glorious opportunities we created.

A few changes in the midfield for this one as Mata and Cazorla replaced Iniesta and Silva on the flanks as well as Cesc Fàbregas starting in the middle allowing Senna to rest.

The two unusual starters in Mata and Cesc secured the victory for us in Yerevan as the Arsenal skipper put us ahead only for the Armenians to equalize as we became quite wasteful with out chances. Our resiliance once again showed though as just 5 minutes after we conceded, we equalized. Mata was brought down in the box and therefore rewarded a penalty which he calmly took and sent the keeper the wrong way to put us up 2-1.

We saw out the match which saw us maintain our flawless qualifying record and with only one match remaining against a Bosnia side who also had already known they had made the playoffs reglardless of what would happen against us.

That’s where we traveled next as we put on a star-studded show in Zenica against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This game was nothing except for a matter of pride – Bosnia had qualified for the playoff round and we had directly qualified for South Africa 2010.

Gerard Piqué and David Silva scored in the first half to signal our intent and that was the fact that we definitely were taking this match just as seriously as any other despite the low significance.

Sevilla striker Álvaro Negredo scored two early in the second half to secure the match with ease and see us maintain our picture perfect record at 10 wins and 0 losses in qualifying.

Mata scored a late goal and Bosnia pulled 2 back extremely late which was a bit disappointing to say the least just as late goals always are to concede but none the less, we were by far, the top side in the match and thoroughly deserved the result.

The 5-2 result in Zenica sees us finish the qualifying stage with a perfect 10-0 record and be only the second team to qualify to South Africa with a flawless record with the other being the Netherlands.

The impressive displays by both Negredo and Mata will give del Bosque enough selection headaches to last from now until the World Cup starts so it will be very interesting to see exactly which men travel with La Furia Roja to South Africa next year.

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