Spain narrows pitch for Uruguay

Spain opened up their Confederations Cup campaign with a largely dominating performance against Uruguay, earning a 2-1 win at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife.

Goals from Pedro and Roberto Soldado paved the way to victory while a late Luis Suarez goal for Uruguay caused a nervy final few minutes. The victory vaults Spain to the top of Group B with three points with Nigeria and Tahiti set to play their opener on Monday. La Roja next take on the islanders on Thursday in Rio.

For the first time in months, Iker Casillas saw action of any kind as Spanish national team head coach Vicente del Bosque slotted the Real Madrid netminder as his number one.

There were no surprises in defense and midfield as Álvaro Arbeloa, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos and Jordi Alba made up the back while the Barcelona trio of Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta filled the middle.

However, Del Bosque’s selection up top raised several eyebrows. Sandwiched in between Cesc Fabregas and Pedro was Valencia striker Soldado who was selected ahead of David Villa and Fernando Torres.

Spain nearly struck early in the 10th minute when an Iniesta dummy allowed Fabregas a free look only to see his Barcelona teammate strike the post and bounce out.

Ten minutes later Spain did find the back of the net and took a 1-0 lead thanks to a combination of good technique from Pedro and a lucky deflection. The Barcelona man did well to keep his stinging shot low to the ground which then deflected off the leg of Uruguayan defender Diego Lugano and easily beat goalkeeper Fernando Muslera who was utterly helpless to stop the redirected strike.

Uruguay had their best chance of the first 45 minutes in the 29th minute when a Luis Suarez free kick was floated into Edinson Cavani who headed toward goal but right into the safe hands of Casillas.

Two minutes later clever play from Fabregas allowed Spain to double the margin. Instead of unleashing a shot from just outside the area, the former Arsenal man curled a short pass to an unmarked Soldado who capped it off with a perfect shot to make it 2-0.

Spain’s spectacular first half was capped off by an absolute exquisite touch and control Xavi in his own area. The Barcelona veteran kicked up his back heel to touch the ball to himself while surrounded by two Uruguayan players. Xavi’s world-class play was clearly appreciated by all inside the Pernambuco who erupted in applause at the Barcelona man’s ingenuity.

The statistics backed up La Roja’s first half brilliance, as Spain held 78% of the possession in the first half while Xavi had the same number of passes as the entire Uruguayan team.

The second half saw much of the same from Del Bosque’s side, all that was lacking was a goal. Spain continued their possession game with creative build-ups, but strong efforts from Iniesta and Pedro fell wide of the target.

Uruguay mustered some form of attack in the second half and had better opportunities but lacked a goal until Suarez finally managed to pull a goal back in the 87th minute. The Liverpool man rocketed in a free kick from the left that curled over the Spanish wall and beat a leaping Casillas at the near post.

In the end, it was the only blemish on what was otherwise a near-perfect night for the World and European champions.

With talk before the tournament centering on whether Spain could continue its international dominance, most doubt was swept aside in La Roja’s victory.

The rest of the world has been given notice. Spain is still very much Spain.


/Marca.Com/