Spain 1-0 Turkey; “Game, Set, and Match”

March 29th, 2009 | by: Anthony |

A win over Turkey in Madrid yesterday has now put us a massive 6 points atop group 5 and mathematically qualified us for South Africa 2010.

Sure it wasn’t the best performance by our boys but there wasn’t a minute in the match where we didn’t look like the stronger side. To say that we dominated is an understatement, and the lack of goals is just.. well, bad luck. Full credit to Turkish keeper Demirel as he stopped us from completely blowing out his side, especially in the second half when he was bombarded with shots, most notably the bullet hit by Xabi Alonso.

At the beginning of the match Middlesbrough striker Tuncay and Villarreal hitman Nihat both challenged Casillas with a couple solid strikes but as soon as we settled down Turkey seemed to stagnate. The rest of the first half was very back and forth but we had the better chances on goal.

I give full credit to Turkey who didn’t really allow us to play our quick skillful game and contained us perfectly. David Villa and Fernando Torres who are probably the best international strike partnership weren’t getting the service from our midfield because we were never allowed to settle on the ball.

Besides a frustrating first half the amazing fans that packed the Bernabeú never stopped singing and chanting as they fully got behind the squad. This made a clear impact as the second half started when on the 60th minute Liverpool star Fernando Torres used his strength when he took on three defenders eventually getting fouled just outside the Turkish box. On the ensuing free kick Xavi put in a perfectly weighted ball to the back post where Sergio Ramos was waiting to pounce but misjudged the pace of the ball which eventually hit him on the thigh and fell perfectly for Barcelona full-back Gerard Piqué who smashed the ball emphatically into the goal to put us up 1-0 and as a result the Bernabeú erupted in celebration.

After taking the lead Turkey seemed to die out and we begun to play more of our style with quick passing and more time on the ball. With Olé, Olé ringing around the stadium with every pass we were more confident than ever and never looked like losing our strong grasp of the lead.

Villa who had a frustrating night was eventually substituted for his Valencia teammate David Silva and Cazorla went off for Juan Mata. Both men who came on had a positive impact with their quick runs and movement both on and off the ball.

Despite the game being basically in the bag, David Silva smashed a shot just slightly over the Turkey goal as Xabi Alonso smashed one of his own on target but right at Volkan Demiral forcing him to tip it over the net.

We killed of the rest of the remaining time with the greatest of ease and what was our hardest game thus far in qualifying ended up just how we hoped, a Spanish victory. What helped us dominate in the second half was that Xavi was allowed to dictate the midfield and that made all the difference for us because the service was more readily available up top for our strikers. My man of the match shout out however has to go to Real Madrid right-back Sergio Ramos who bossed the right side of defense and midfield with his darting runs up the flank and solid work also pushing back to help and he also set up our goal albeit it unintentionally.

We now travel to the Turkish capital of Istanbul on Wednesday to take on our half-Asian friends in the second of two back-to-back qualifying matches. I’m being completely honest when I say that yesterday was probably one of the hardest matches we’ve played in a very long time and taking them on again especially on their home turf won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination. All we can do is play our game and then I have no doubts that we’ll come away with all three vital points. What I admire about Turkey is their ever-present fighting spirit and what scares me is their unpredictable play which caused a lot of trouble for us, we’ll have to beef up our midfield if we want to come away with a more comfortable victory come Wednesday.

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Vadim

What do you think of del Bosque’s tactical set up in this game? IMO Xavi, Xabi Alonso, and Senna in the middle is too much. With only Santi on the wing Spain struggled to create chances, especially in the first half. I can’t remember the last time Spain played with three central midfield players and two strikers, its too narrow of a formation.

Great debut for Mata by the way.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org Anthony

Vadim, I didn’t like it at all. We had no width until Mata and Silva were introduced because personally I don’t think Cazorla is up to par with the rest of the squad in terms of skill or speed. I would have definitely liked to see Jesús Navas called up as I think he’s a much better winger all around then Santi is.
Cem

I have to disagree with one thing. Spain did not dominate, passing in your own half isnt domination. We had the first half and you guys had the second half. Kudos to Spain.
Timothy Lakefront

Cazorla had a terrible game. We desperately need Iniesta back.
Utku

Spain most def did not dominate this game. there was only two chances on goal that Volkan stopped, and 3-0 is def not blowing out the opposition. Turkey could have gotten two early goals and Iker stopped both of them. But there is no way in hell Spain dominated that game and got “unlucky” because they didn’t score a lot of goals. Just shows the lack of professionalism in your writing.
Jose

Hey Anthony, how is Spain “mathematically qualified” for the final? They’re only half way through the qualifying stage and Turkey could definitely overtake them if, tomorrow on, absolutely everything fell apart.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org Anthony

The lack of goals is one thing, but who dominated the possession and build up? Turkey had a couple good chances but other than that did not test Iker at all.

Utku, this is a Spanish national team blog written by a Spaniard, of course there is going to be massive bias in my writing. Lack of professionalism? I’m not writing a professional match report for Sky Sports or any massive European sport website, I do this for free as a passionate fan, by no means am I professional.

Jose, it’s basically a bit of wishful thinking and some obvious observation. Realistically I can’t see us losing to Bosnia, Belgium, Estonia or Armenia, the only team that will give us a run out is Turkey and we play them on Wednesday. Even if we lose to them (doubt) we’ll still be ahead by three points and in the pole position to qualify.
Bobo

^ Hmm, are you Anthony or Antonio? Can’t recall having met too many Spaniards named Anthony.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org Anthony

Of course my real name is Antonio but when I moved to Canada it kind of got changed to Anthony. Much easier for English speakers to say, at least properly.
alexa

Well, Antonio Round Water, this was a well-written & pretty accurate analysis of the match. I must say, you are right on about the madridista & the man of the match. ;D Brilliant choice.
http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

I went to the game at the Bernabeu…….and what a boring game. Blah. Turkey played well. It´s too bad the only sell San Miguel and other alcohol-less drinks at the stadium.
Shazback

Antony : even though losing to Bosnia, Belgium, Estonia or Armenia would be a surprise, Spain lost to North Ireland and Sweden in the Euro qualifiers as well as drawing to Iceland. For Spain to not make the playoffs at this point would be a massive surprise, but it wouldn’t be impossible for them to miss direct qualification : Spain loses to Turkey, Spain draws against Belgium, Turkey and Bosnia draw their match against each other, and both Spain, Turkey and Bosnia win all their other matches before the last matchday (Bosnia-Spain)… The Group would be : 1st Spain (7W, 1D, 1L) 22pts; 2nd Bosnia (6W, 1D, 2L) 19pts, Turkey (5W, 3D, 1L) 18pts. So if Bosnia beat Spain, Spain would be tied on points and the playoff would go to the team with the lesser goal-difference.

If Spain “slip up” more (I mean, say Spain loses to Belgium instead of drawing, or draws against Estonia or Armenia) then Turkey could also leap-frog Spain on the last matchday.

It’s highly improbable, but not impossible.
Jose

Wow, Shazback, that’s one heck of a scenario, hehehe. I’m on the lookout for Asia’s Group 1… we could have the first truly “mathematically qualified” team in the world (apart from South Africa) if Australia beats Uzbekistan and Bahrain vs. Qatar is a draw.
http://spain.worldcupblog.org Anthony

Alessio, it was boring really, there was a lot of possession but nothing to show for it and because of del Bosque’s strange lineup we had no width to our play, something that we definitely valued in the Euro’s.

And I agree with Jose, Shazback, you have quite the scenario developed there but I still don’t see it happening. I see your point though, its not impossible, I never said it was but the bias in me says we’ll qualify with ease.

To touch on your reference to our losses to Northern Ireland and Sweden as well as our draw against Iceland – remember at that time we also had Raúl, Guti and Albelda in the squad, thats enough said really. It was the bump before our enlightenment.
Denise

I was very happy to see Spain come away with the win. It wasn’t a very exciting game though. The reson as to why this happened is most likely due to the fact that we had Xavi, Xabi Alonso, and Senna in midfield. These are our more tactical midfielders in my opinion, and I think that when the midfield is being very meticulous, the game pace tends to slow down. I’m glad that we proved that even in a tough game with a team like Turkey, where we didn’t play as well as we should have, we still were able to come away with the win. The midfield set-up was to blame for the draggy pace of the game. When Silva and Mata came on, the pace definitely became quicker. Midfielders like Fabregas, Silva, Mata, and Jesus Navas (who I wish was also called up) bring a faster game, not saying Xavi and company aren’t great midfielders. Against Turkey, we needed a faster game, and Silva and Mata proved to be the solution, just a little too late. Tomorrow’s game will be different I think. I think Spain will have to use a fatser pace against the unpredictable Turkey, and will have learned this lesson from the previous match. We can’t linger with a tied game for too long, because the Turks will score out of nowhere. If we use Villa and Torres, and incorporate some midfielders that deliver faster pace, we should be fine, and get the 3 points we need.

In response to what’s been said about Spain possibly losing or tying with Estonia, Bosnia, Belgium, and Armenia, I highly doubt it. This is very unlikely, I doubt Spain will carelessly drop points against teams like that. Turkey was our hardest match. We won the first, and tomorrow is the second. I think if Spain incorporates the right players, there’s no reson for us to lose. Even if we did, we’d still be the top team. As for the rmaining matches, I think Spain will gain the victories over them. Honestly, I can’t see them losing to a team like Armenia, who they had scored 4 goals against in the beginning. While I understand every game is different, I just don’t see it happening. A team like Spain should not lose to these other teams. I’m confident that Spain will finish top of their group

Wishing the best of luck to Spain tomorrow. Viva Espana!!!