Game Blog: Spain v Bosnia

Hola! I’m Dancy, the new co-blogger for Spain, and a huge fan of their footy. I noticed this space wasn’t getting much action lately – and that totally needs to change! I mean, we’re falling behind in numbers of posts to Holland (1400+!), France, England, and Germany? That can’t happen! After the Euros – c’mon, this team needs to be worshipped. So, even though I’ve just recently joined the Real Madrid Offside blog, FIFA has given us the ingenious idea of international breaks, so I can focus on both. Let’s get started!

It was a fantastic game this past Saturday for Spain, as they began their World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign with a 1-0 victory over Bosnia. Cesc started in place of Fernando, Diego Capel – in only his 2nd cap – was a sensation, Puyol was a rock star in the back, and David Villa gave us a wondergoal to savor for years to come. For anyone who missed the game, or to relive every single scintillating moment, here is my game blog (Armenia blog coming soon):

It’s finally here!!! Oh, how long I’ve waited! The picture comes on, the sound suddenly brightens, and as the Marcha Real strikes up, I have this stupid, giddy grin on my face at finally being able to see them again, my boys of Spain, on the big screen. It’s been so long – 2 months, has it? Ah, look, there is Cesc! Back as #10, taking Nando’s spot by Sergio’s side. And Capel! He’s taken Nando’s #9?? Wow! That is some fast rise up the ranks for this youngster! And as they shake hands with the Bosnians – my God, the opposition is tall! Every one of them. And why is Iker wearing #12?

With Fernando out with a hamstring injury and Silva out with an ankle problem, we are playing with a lone striker in a 4-1-4-1:
. . . . . . . . . Iker . . . . . . . . . .
Ramos . . Puyol . . Albiol . . Capdevila
. . . . . . . . . Senna . . . . . . . .
Iniesta . . Cesc . . Xavi . . Capel
. . . . . . . . . Villa . . . . . . . . .

0:40 Bosnia attacks first, but Puyol is there to steal the ball away. Now it is Spain’s turn. Sergio gets the ball on the right flank, looks forward, sees no Fernando, and slots a long ball bundling forward for Villa – which misses him by miles. Ah, we still get a throw-in off it. Excellent!

2:05 Diego Capel gets the ball on the left wing and immediately looks to pounce through 3 white shirts to get into the box. He scares the opposition so much that they promptly foul him, right in front of the ref to boot, and the poor boy eats grass. Nonplussed, he gets right back up.

4:16 Shit! Capel! STOP FOULING HIM! That was a violent tackle, as Capel again looked to dance right through his marker, and this time, the Bosnian #2 unceremoniously dumps him to the ground with Diego clutching his leg like its been shot at, and writhing on the grass, terribly painful to see. The ref looks sternly at #2 and whips out the yellow card, but some of the Spanish players are gathered around him, asking for a straight red. Capel gets up and scowls as he walks off – there is a close-up of him that looks so amazing – with his long, messy blond hair and hooded eyes he really does look like Orli as Legolas, a slight resemblance, and how good he looks in that royal red! The commentators, through all of 4 minutes, are already impressed with him too, calling him “talented”, “mercurial”, and “quick”.

5:10 Sergio wins a corner! Iniesta gives him a nice weighted ball forward, into the right corner that splits 2 defenders, and Sergio eagerly runs it down, so nearly beating the defender to it that the Bosnian must slide it hurriedly over the goalline for a corner. We take it short – Capel comes out to help in the right wing – but then its booted away to safety by a white shirt.

8:10 AH, no one there! Capel is getting every ball from his teammates on the far left flank, and you can see why – his pace and his daring is unparalleled, and even with Fernando Torres out, here is a kid to give the opposition plenty of nightmares. He races his marker for the ball all the way to the goalline, then gets enough of a deft touch to turn it perfectly backwards 45 degrees for somebody to pick up – oooooh, if only Villa had read his intentions!!! Alas, it is quickly cleared away by the nearest white shirt, and the chance is over. And why are they calling Cesc “Chesc”?

10:34 A long ball bounces out towards Sergio and past him, and Sergio jogs calmly towards it – but then all of a sudden he realizes that it was Spain’s ball, and that if it goes out, Bosnia gets a freebie at a very dangerous area! Shoot!!! Now he goes tearing after it, and saves it just in time – to the huge cheer of the crowd.

13:00 Capel tries to dart through 3 players and is brought down, again – 3rd time? I am fearing for his life now. Yellow card for their #8. We line up the free kick, and . . even free kicks we take it short? Ah, we didn’t particularly like that spot, so a Spanish player hit it short to Senna, who took 2 running steps before hammering it right into a white shirt, but we get it back.

14:09 Sergio! Capel’s cross in from the left finds no one, so Sergio tracks it down. Now he is given room and his eyes light up, he storms into the box and just as they sense the danger and close in on him, he chips a beautiful ball out wide to Cesc, then continues to gun forward into the box, expecting the cross back – but Cesc!! Right into a white shirt??? C’mon, baby, you can do better than that! Now he gets the loose ball back but his second shot is too rushed, too desperate, and it sails high over everybody’s heads into the far side. Aww, aww . . beautiful, breathtaking sequence, wasted. “He knows he should’ve done better, look at his body language,” the commentator says. “Great linking, patented football by Spain” . .

There is a split second shot of Cesc, with his head down, and Sergio walking besides him, talking to him, saying not to worry, we’ll get plenty of chances. See, in times like these, I really wish captain Iker wasn’t a goalkeeper and can walk amongst his teammates to talk to them and either cheer them up or point out what they should’ve done better. Unfortunately, Iker is bolted down at the other side of the pitch, where no one is . . and until they invent microscopic walkie-talkies for on-the-pitch use, Cesc is never gonna hear Iker telling him it’s OK until its halftime.

16:25 Bosnian scare, but Iker very ably comes out to snuff out the danger, and the ball sails over the goal out of bounds.

19:07 As Capel races down the left flank, forcing the Bosnian defender to deflect it out for a corner, another accolade comes in: “Messi-like”. Why didn’t Real buy this kid???? The corner is taken short, without success, but then Xavi tracks it down, and just as the commentators are saying he was once considered “on the down side” of his form, Xavi spirals a furious cross into the box that very nearly finds a red shirt, but alas, its cleared away. Take that!

21:25 Where are you sending the ball, Sergio? There was no one there! There wasn’t even a white shirt there! Ah, but it doesn’t matter, as Puyol/Albiol’s job has been reduced to pushing up the line to almost the halfway mark, and chasing down every lost ball from the forward line and re-supplying them with it. Indeed, the grass on our half of the field is so green, so fair, compared to the trampled mess that is already Bosnia’s part of the pitch, that you can easily tell who is enjoying the lion’s share of possession so far.

23:00 Just for that, Bosnia decides to trample up our side of the pitch, by getting 3 throw-ins in a row in Sergio’s right corner. It comes to nothing, though, and we very calmly take it the other way and continue attacking.

24:00 Villa with a handball? He was sandwiched between 2 defenders, takes the ball with his chest, then tries to fend off his nearest marker to keep the ball and inevitably used his arm to try to control it. Then he immediately complains that he was fouled. Haha, good one, David!

24:50 Wow, Puyol with a ferocious determination to chase down that ball and win it away from danger – amazing, amazing things that the Barcelona captain can do when called upon – “in danger of getting old” the commentators lament. Stop aging, Puyol! You too, Senna! We need you guys for World Cup 2010!

26:00 OOOHHH! So close! Xavi with a header! Iniesta with a curling ball into the box, Xavi almost too casually heads it forward and downward, and the keeper is able to gather it into his mitts. Were you not expecting that, Xavi?

26:30 Senna with a ROCKET onto the CROSSBAR! S***! Damn!!! He turned that defender inside out, turns on a dime, then hurls a whipping shot on goal – only to be denied by the rattling crossbar! A huge collective groan escapes the crowd, and Senna turns away, disappointed.

30:00 Oh, oh, Capel! What a scintillating run!!!!! He latches onto the ball inside our half, and Villa even puts his hands up to make room for him, as Capel just runs holes into the wind, when he starts going there is no stopping him, he runs by one bewildered Bosnian player, then two, then three, taking it all the way to the edge of the box before being brought down, to the great cheer, then collective groan of the crowd. This kid is carrying Spain on his back right now, and is a complete, refreshing revelation. Silva, thank you for making room for him! Only his second cap for Spain, and already a key starter!

31:15 Sergio’s crosses are quite rubbish today. This one again misses Villa by miles.

32:00 Capel and Iniesta have switched sides. Capel doesn’t find the defenders any friendlier on this side, though, as he is fouled for the umpteenth time today.

34:00 OOF! Poor Iniesta! On the left wing now, he is fouled hard and lands with a thud on the grass, sprawled out and staying there, propped up on his elbows, because this is the only time he can catch a breath, what with his maze-like runs and footwork. Free kick for Spain – oh look, right at the spot where we take the corner short to, anyway! Excellent! You can almost see Xavi licking his lips, eyeing this situation . .

A PENALTY FOR SPAIN! MY GOD!!!!! Thank GOD for Capel! Xavi, once again, as always, takes it short, takes everything short, and this time it isn’t to anybody in particular, but Capel knows what to do, and tears off from his line for it. What happens next is too fast for words. Capel gets to the ball first but only millimeters in front of the startled Bosnian defender, who puts a foot out and trips up the young winger, who sells it magnificently. He leaps high in the air, as if he’s stepped on a porcupine, and the referee immediately blows his whistle and points to the spot. The crowd goes ballistic. The Bosnian players plead and plead. But the Spanish players laugh and congratulate each other as if they’d won the lottery. Surely we’ve got a goal here! Surely this will open up the game even more for us! And Capel, my Diego Capel looks so happy he’s won this for his country! Could this be his 3rd “assist” in 2 games?? An astounding figure!!

35:00 OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VILLA MISSED THE PENALTY?????????????????????#*(@$#*$&##!? OVERCONFIDENT?????? “And Spain and Murcia go silent.” I am still trying to process this. How, how can Villa, so skilled, so lethal, with so much guile – miss a penalty shot? The easiest of all shots? “It was a lazy penalty; there was no focus on it, there was no real intent.” After Capel was sooooo happy to win it?? How could you, David?!

35:30 Now this gives confidence to Bosnia, as it should. However, they can’t put together a decent attack, and Spain happily takes the reins once more.

36:35 It is too good, too good. SERGIO! Gets the ball with acres of space on the right side, takes on his marker 1v1 with a beautiful stepover, why does he not do this more?? He completely fools his marker, then slips it to Iniesta before darting forward into the box, eager for the pass back – BUT! OOH, so close! Iniesta tries a backheel flick to quickly deliver it back to him, but it’s stolen by an alarmed defender, and Sergio, who would’ve been all alone with only the keeper to beat, skips into the air in frustration. You get the feeling that they are just playing out there, toying with Bosnia, trying out new tricks . .

38:07 Awww!!! Too cute! As Sergio backs up with the rest of the rearguard prepping for a Bosnia throw-in, he whistles to his teammates and points to someone to alert them of an assignment. Is it to Cesc? LOL, it is! Cesc listens intently, then forwards the message to someone else.

The ball is thrown to Sergio’s markee, and Sergio has no trouble pressuring that ball away, even forcing his markee to fall flat onto his back – lol! The ref doesn’t care and jogs on with the developing play at hand, as Iniesta somehow survives a stern challenge and seems to run the ball through his marker, as if he was a ghost! Too cool! Then Capel gets it – he’s back on the left side – but his cross finds no one at all.

39:25 Jesus Christ, my head is spinning. Too fast! You guys are playing too fast!! Capel! Slow down! Haha, I love my boys! Bosnia counter-attacks, they are flying down the left wing (their right wing), and they have caught Spain with so little time to muster a defense that we are a bit ragged, so that I almost forget to breath, so convinced am I that Iker will get severely tested here. BUT! They bundle it completely! They hesitate long enough for Sergio, who’s left his position to help out as a center-back, to steal the ball away from them in the blink of an eye and shepherd it out of danger, and now Iniesta has it, now Capel has it, in 3 seconds it’s made its way from the far back to the far front, where Capel is now racing for it against his marker. Then – turning on a dime – he looses his marker completely and looks for someone to gift the cross to. The quickness of that kid! But the cross goes nowhere – oh? Another foul? A free kick! Capel again! How many free kicks has he won for us?

And this scene is hilariously familiar: Capel getting up from the ground with a scowl, his blond hair in gorgeous, messy tatters, while the Bosnian defender who’s just fouled him is throwing up his hands piteously at the referee, saying in the universal language: “how on earth do you expect me to stop that boy? It’s either lose by 5-0 or stop him. I must stop him.” Then you see Villa and Xavi bend their heads over the ground studiously, wondering how short to play this one now. Capel is right to have taken Nando’s #9. He is nothing short of amazing.

Halftime: This is such compelling football that I can barely tear myself away to type a few words, let alone entire, coherent sentences. So what you’re reading are comments taken from a second viewing. Spain’s had probably 95% of possession, I am not kidding. Bosnia is pretty much putting all 11 men behind the ball, with only a few sporadic bursts forward whenever they can. Otherwise, they are fully copycatting Italy and trying to choke us to death. However, they cannot even do that! Remember how terrible that Italy game was? This one is the complete opposite; we are having so many chances that it is like watching 10 games in one.

And oh, how I love Diego Capel! That boy is such a whirlwind of fun & energy, he is completely throwing every defender off their feet. How many fouls has he invited? How many cards? How many chances for Spain? Just seeing him get the ball down the left side must raise terror in the opposing side’s hearts. With Torres and Silva gone – Capel has taken over as the player to fear. And Villa – with so many offsides, a handball, and a lazy penalty – what is going on with you? Davy boy, just because the press linked you with fifty 50ME offers over the past summer, does not mean you can take the day off! Please focus?

Ooooh, what does that sign say? A fan is holding up “S. Ramos la artilleria siempre contig gracias!!”

46:15 Puyol is God! Thank heavens for him! Spain starts out the second half with possession, but after a bit of stroking it around, Sergio tries to split 2 defenders to find Villa, and the ball gets stolen away. They steam up the left flank now, and the Bosnian #3 gets past Capdevila into our penalty box that is so devoid of defenders that he is almost 1v1 with Iker Casillas!!! GUYS!!!! Please don’t forget this is part of the pitch too! The part with our goal in it?!

And then Carles Puyol, like an angel sent from the heavens, races up in a red shirt and sniffs out the danger, beating the #3 to the ball by only a pace or two, but smartly using his body to separate the ball away from him, corralling it, and then calmly taking it to safety. He gives it to Capdevila – who makes to clear it – but crap, the pass evades Senna right to a white shirt!!!! Be CAREFUL, Joan!!! Another huge spike in blood pressure as once again the white shirt faces almost nobody in the box – but again, the marvel that is Puyol races up, fights for the ball, somehow teases the ball away from the Bosnian player, and this time, he makes the clearance, to Senna – who sends it forward to a waiting Cesc, who immediately turns the other way. The attacking players are already in their stations, as if they never believed Bosnia to be serious in their attempt forward anyway. And if they had those microscopic walkie-talkies, they would be all chirping, “thank you, Carles! Mucho gracias!!”

47:45 WTF??? THAT WAS CLEAN!!! Puyol with an amazing sliding tackle to save the ball for us, he got all ball, yet he gets booked for his troubles?? The rock of the Spanish defense looks up at the referee like he’s mad, and throws up his hands in wild innocence, protesting. However, thanks to the vivid acting by the Bosnian player, who, yes, did get clipped in the legs by Puyol’s tackle, and is still writhing on the ground – the ref shakes his head sternly. Poor Carles can only get up and walk off in disgust, while the fans boo the enthusing free kick.

49:00 The Bosnians went nowhere with their free kick, once again Puyol saves the lame attempt by punting the ball off away from the goal, and Iker races out to grab it and roll it out onto the already-running boots of Sergio. The ball makes its way towards the left side, as it has all game long, and now Capel licks his chops and settles the ball before going to work, the likes of which is dazzling to see up close. He single-handedly races it past one defender, lets another defender try to wrestle it away before winning it back, then draws a defender far out into the corner before trying to make a cross that gets deflected out for a corner. As Xavi comes for the corner kick – the Bosnian defender, #2, walks off shaking his head, a wan smile on his lips. I swear, almost every single one of our corners and free kicks have been a result of Capel’s hard work. “He may be Man of the Match simply for the fact that he’s the instigator for Spain.”

52:50 INIESTA! With a rasping shot on goal! That kid is a wonder, he gets the ball on the far right flank and dances his way clear past his marker, bears down on goal and sends a cannonball! toward the goal at an acute angle from 12 yards out – the shot so hard Iniesta lifted up into the air to kick it, and the ball arrowing upward like a fighter jet at the keeper! Unfortunately, the keeper was right there and positioned himself well to make the goal small, but even so, he could only palm the ball away before it rebounded back out – and a startled Bosnian defender had to hoof it out of there to save it from a second attempt. Corner!

ANOTHER NEAR SUCCESS! Villa latches onto the ball from the short corner we’ve taken and races into the box, running almost parallel to the goalline, squirts the ball past one defender while leaping over him, then taking the shot – a great pass into a tangle of players – Capel is there, but so is the keeper – and for a split second the ball is loose and nobody picks up on it! Then it’s again cleared out, and the chance is over.

54:00 A huge scare for Spain, as a Bosnian player suddenly finds himself with a ball at his feet and only 1 defender by his side with the path to goal as clear as a blue sky. But – he doesn’t shoot? Huh, why – did we paralyze him with poison? Ah, I see – offside. Of course!

56:00 GOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cesc to Villa, who is absolutely world class!! Unparalleled! How did he do that???? That goal was of such stunning quality that I must rewatch, again and again, marveling at every single step Villa took for that goal. And every one of them: perfect, perfect, perfect. It was an ingenious ball forward from Cesc, but it was Villa who squeezed every opportunity from it, who made something out of nothing, who took what was maybe a 10% chance for a goal and made it 100%. Astounding!

And it is such quintessential Spanish football, such quick counter-attacking, such total teamwork and effort that starts from the back and rapidly progresses up front, that I am in a daze. It starts with Puyol, who is getting a “10” today from me, he is absolutely relentless in defense. From a danger that Sergio could’ve done better to snuff out – the Bosnian player gets by him by slotting a pass forward for his teammate, who goes chasing after it with Puyol attached to his hip into the far right corner. And just as I cringe at seeing it go out of play for a corner – the Bosnian player certainly thinks so – but Puyol keeps it in play! Amazing! Marvelous! Inconceivable! How does he do that?? While the Bosnian player is gawking, Puyol simply rolls the ball backwards onto his feet, turns, and takes off, looking for the first teammate he can find and sending the ball straight to him. Once again, a chorus of “mucho gracias, Carles!” breaks out on invisible walkie-talkies, as Spain is once again off to the races.

Iniesta gives it to Cesc, who wastes no time, let’s not dally around the box and play 8v11 anymore – and he sends a laser-like ball forward for Villa, by the touch and speed of it you can tell it is quality, it is a ball that every striker dreams of, that Fernando Torres had run onto exactly such a ball in the Euro final to beat Pipi Lahm and Germany for the crown. And now, in even more dramatic heights, having missed the penalty, having been called “lazy” and “unfocused” despite being the sole striker for the proud Spanish Armada, our David Villa latches onto that ball like a velociraptor and all others flounder in his wake.

Speeding down the corner past his defender, he sees the keeper run out in desperation and knows just the right touch to pip! that ball away from him, around him, yet just so that as he leaps over the keeper – the ball goes with him, it meets him on the other end – but – oh, oh – where is the goal? How acute of an angle is this?? How many millimeters left before he runs out of real estate? But my God! With the only window he has, with the only touch he can, he blasts that ball towards goal in a path that you can watch forever and still not believe.

How impossible is that angle – maybe 10 degrees? Maybe? And even so, first it must avoid the near post, and not clank against it, not even touch – then, it must go almost all the way across the goalmouth, almost past it – before tucking in just inside the far post. And even then, even then your mouth is agape and you are jumping up and down and you want to make sure that the ball is indeed in the back of the net. Such quality! Such illusion! Such deftness and touch!

And the crowd goes mad. Villa and Cesc are hugging each other in the corner, touching heads, the rest of the team have gathered up around them, and the commentators are screaming themselves hoarse – because this, this is the one goal that you came to watch 90 minutes for, this is the stroke of genius that finally gave the Spaniards what they deserved but could never realize in all the preceding 110 trips into the box. “This is off the charts, people!! When you see this, this is ab-so-lute-ly GENIUS! From such an acute angle, an impossible angle . . you’ll see more dramatic goals and greater finishing, but from a pure penalty box finishing it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s beyond razor-sharp.” Ah, Villa, from villain to hero in 20 minutes flat. No one else could’ve done it, huh, Dha-veed? 1-0.

61:00 SERGIO! Goddamnit, STOP KILLING OUR PLAYERS!!! Sergio wants to attack too, he gives the ball to Iniesta to hold on the right flank, before overlapping and running forward, and Iniesta releases a great ball along the endline for him to chase. Sergio instantly tears off for the corner, getting to it right before a defender does, then tapping the ball forward a little more and rounds the corner, tussling all the while with his marker – and just as he seems to have control of the ball for a great cross –&(#*$EJOEIFS!(@#*&#%#*?$%#$! They push and shove, Sergio gets in front of him, and the defender won’t take a clue and grabs at his sleeve and trips him up so badly that Sergio falls and rolls 2 complete cycles before coming to a stop on the ground, hard, grimacing in pain and clutching his leg.

Cesc throws up his hands for a card on the culprit. For a few dreadful moments, I fear the worst. He still won’t get up. In fact, he’s kneeling on the grass, one hand still clutching his calf, his face muffled in the grass to hide the pain away from his teammates. The defender, #16, is booked for a yellow card. The physios run out with some magic spray and water, which seems to cheer him up. Nothing like getting room service out on the pitch! Ah, now he’s ok. Thank God! Free kick goes nowhere.

63:00 Xabi is on the sidelines, taking off his shirt (unfortunately with his back turned to the cameras) and looking ready to come on for somebody. Cesc?

64:00 Xabi on for Cesc. Poor Cesc . . he was just getting good, what a fantastic, memorable assist, but now he walks towards the bench with his head down, blindly picking a spot out at the very end of it, and even with Pepe there besides him, he sits with his eyes trained on the pitch, biting his lip, looking forlorn.

65:25 LOL, Sergio is so polite! I don’t see the Bosnian players doing that! Sergio is defending on the right flank and gets to the ball a little too late, ends up tripping the Bosnian player to the ground. The whistle blows, Sergio looks up to confirm the spot with the referee, then politely raises his hand to acknowledge the error on his part – and pats the Bosnian player on the head before trotting off! Too cute! Do I see Capel getting 10 pats on the head from the fouls committed on him today? No!

67:00 After an exquisite, breathtaking sequence in which we probe every corner of the field and had so many tantalizing chances that I won’t even bother to recite, because it would do it no justice, Senna tries a long-range shot that unfortunately sails over the goal. On the bench, however, Cesc does not share in my joy. He is still bloody pissed. “Chesc, meanwhile . . you can see the smoke coming out of his ears.” Awww . . cheer up, baby! You got the winning assist, after all!

69:00 Another exquisite, mouth-drooling piece of footy, such a scramble for the loose ball, such liveliness from every single member of the team! And Sergio, lol – he passes the ball to Iniesta on the flank, and so craftily uses his body to shield an oncoming defender from bothering the little guy, that the unwitting defender falls flat on his face from the collision with Sergio’s back! Awesome, Serg!!! Then, a gorgeous piece of defending too, the ball is so close to the goal he should be alarmed, but in fact, he is the very picture of calm, easily winning the dangerous ball with his head and pointing it down onto the grass, so that it skips and bounces up softly into the gloved hands of Iker Casillas. Their familiarity from spending 3 years together at Real Madrid is a delight to see!

70:00 Haha, Santi is coming on, but he can’t get his shirt off his head! He’s stuck! HELP! Pepe to the rescue! Yay, Pepe! Aww, Santi, turn your body towards the cameras, please!

70:23 SO CLOSE! Just another inch and you would’ve had it! Great give-and-go with Sergio and Iniesta, Sergio holds while Iniesta races off towards the far corner, Sergio releases the ball forward for him, and then takes off for the box himself. Iniesta beats his marker and sends in the high cross – but he just misses Sergio by an inch! Sergio had been hoping for something closer to goal, and could only save it by tapping it with his backheel, hoping someone can pick it up. Alas, no one can.

71:31 Santi comes on for Capel. The boy who has mesmerized me all game long gets a great round of applause from the fans, and the Bosnian defenders, certainly, can breathe a huge sigh of relief.

73:00 Santi with a rampaging shot on goal! Saved by the keeper, alas, but what a great run, a fantastic one-two with Xavi, who crafts the perfect ball up the right side for him to run onto, and Santi slides in with a spinning daisycutter that the keeper is forced to scoop up.

74:40 OOOOOOOHH!!!!!!!!! SENNA! VILLA! Nobody can get to it! That was such a chance!!! Off a short corner, Iniesta is now on the left side, holding the ball and surveying the scene. Everybody is waiting. Then he sends the ball rasping to Senna, who tees it up and takes 2 running steps before lashing the ball towards goal, a screamer, a wicked, wicked bullet that smashes into the keeper’s desperate gloves, and it spills out!!!! Sergio is right there to head it forward! But he doesn’t get enough power onto it, so he can only nod it towards Villa and Capdevila, who are just inches in front of goal, all they had to do is latch on and give it a kick, a push, anything, and that ball would’ve been blasted into the net. But no – somehow they get in each other’s way, Villa almost knocks Capdevila’s teeth out in his fury to turn around 180 degrees and swing, and by the time he kicks it towards goal, the keeper has recovered and saves it with plenty to spare. Sergio, still kneeled on the ground in front of goal, throws his head back in frustration.

75:30 Beautiful linkup here to skirt the ball through the forest of white shirts, and then Xavi sees something, a blur coming up the right side, the empty side, and slots the ball through for him. Oh, it is perfect. Sergio! Charging up the flank like a wild stallion, his hair flying, his legs a complete blur as he looks to blast that thing into the back of the net, the memory of his stinging shot at Valencia last year suddenly flashing in my mind. But no, no, no – what are you doing??? He gets to the ball first but just hesitates long enough for the defender to park himself, and now when he tries to cross it gets blocked and out of bounds. Corner. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

79:00 Villa just wide!!! He didn’t have that much time to square up and shoot, so the shot was a bit weak, but what a chance! The commentators are chatting about Group 5, and how Turkey, with 2 goals (2-0 over Armenia) and Belgium, with 3 goals (3-2 v Estonia) will be ranked ahead of Spain in the Group 5 score sheet, even though all 3 teams have the same 3 points. I don’t mind . . 1-0 is perfectly fine for this game, as we utterly dominated possession; it wasn’t even a fair game for Bosnia. Plus, we have 10 more minutes for goal #2.

82:42 Awwww! Another near chance right in front of goal!!! Xabi, Santi, and Xavi form a triangle of terror, and Xavi, with a one-two from Santi, gets released right in front of the 8 yard box and another step and he would’ve had it!!!! Alas, the keeper had already come out, and this time, he wasn’t gonna let that ball get away from him. Xavi jumps over him a little and can only jog away . . damnit, damnit, damnit!!!

85:00 Dani Guiza comes on for Villa, who gets a huge round of applause from the crowd. The commentators are still basking in the memory of that wondergoal: “One chance in the game, basically, and it was less than a 10% chance, that David Villa had, from the most impossible, most acute of angles, and he made it look as easy as peeling a tangerine.”

85:30 Iniesta!!! C’mon! You had Guiza right there in the box! A little cross wouldn’t hurt? “Dani Guiza is giving him daggers,” the commentator says, as Guiza does, indeed, watch that ball sail hopelessly over his head and out of bounds from Iniesta, and then turns to give his teammate a good, quizzical eyebrow – lol! Iniesta, with his new haircut making him look even younger than before, can only shrug and walk it off.

87:00 Wow, wow, Santi with a couple of laser-beam, thread-the-needle passes, splitting defenses and so nearly finding Guiza or somebody else in perfect striking position, but gah, all these white shirts??? Where do they come from??

90:00+1:00 Guiza wins one last corner for Spain, and OH! How close was that???? One more step, Xabi, and you would’ve had it! If we had any luck in the world, any luck at all, this would’ve been long over, 2-0 at the very least and perhaps as much as 4-0. This one was perfect, perfect – Xavi plays it short to Iniesta, who tees up Santi, who rifles a stinging shot up at goal, and all Xabi has to do is run onto it, get to it first! But no – the keeper must get his gloves on it – and then it is over.

90:00+1:45 Jesus Christ, Iniesta, you make my heart jump! So, so close, how many times have I said that??? A bonanza of chances, if only we could finish them!!! Iniesta, with Capel out, can roam free now on the left, and this time, he gets the ball with acres of space and only one defender to beat, only one! Oh, it’s like Christmas! He laughs with glee and with a simple feint and dart towards his right side loses his marker just enough to pop into the elbow of the box for a stinging shot on goal. But oh, oh, it is just wide! Haha, and he left 2 defenders and a keeper on the ground in his wake! An amazing encore, one last hurrah, and now we can go home happy with visions of a 5-0 goal-fest in our next game.

90:00+3:17 Uh, somebody tell that ref that time is up? Please?? Bosnia now with a last-gasp effort of their own, piling their entire lineup in front of our box, and we, too, stand up and take notice, calling everybody back to defend. Their effort in the end goes nowhere, Iker frankly has his easiest job in a decade, and when its clear to the ref that the Bosnians are incapable of even getting a shot on goal, he finally relents and blows the whistle. That’s it!! Spain wins, 1-0.

Post-game thoughts:
This game was phenomenal. Bosnia was simply no match for Spain, and if we’d just had a little more luck, we would’ve been atop the Group 5 table. But so what? Maybe this helps us focus a little better and work on our set pieces and finishing. I mean, how can you fault so many near-chances when we were basically playing 8 v 11? When I was sitting on the edge of my seat half the time, the other half pouncing out of it onto the carpet right in front of the telly, hoping it would swallow me whole and bring me into the eden that is Murcia? That was how much I loved it. Every time Capel got the ball I was holding my breath . . same with Iniesta . . with Villa . . with Sergio.

And that goal of Villa’s . . it was so magical, so impossible, that it elevated this game into an instant classic. And I won’t forget how Cesc bounded up to him by the corner flag to take his head to his, his hands tousling the striker’s hair, his forehead touching David’s, his eyes and his smile so bright and happy for him, for them both, for Spain . . oh Cesc. It was so touching to see him go off the pitch and sit at the end of the bench with a pout on his lips, biting it like that. It was he who had slotted to Villa the winning goal – yet he still felt he had not done enough, he had not earned his full 90 minutes. You’re not the only one, Cesc. Fernando has come off too, before . . Villa too . . Capel. Your time will come.

And what of Fernando watching from home? He must’ve been itching to get out there, to help them out, to score more goals, bloody damn it! Against Belgium and Turkey, El Nino, we’ll need you for sure. To tell you the truth – I really missed him in this game. I thought we would be fine; it was Bosnia, after all. But it was clear that we missed him, that we missed his blistering speed and strength, and though Capel wore #9, he was really replacing Silva, not Nando. The Bosnian side was taller and it was clear from every short corner we took that we did not trust our ability to beat them in the air. Nando would’ve helped in that area too. In short . . he changes the game. Har har Del Bosque: “we should’ve scored more”. Next game!