Spain Hit Injury-Time Winner, and Holders Greece are Out

June 15, 2008 by CLDsport

Spain 2 v 1 Sweden, Greece 0 v Russia 1

Yesterday saw group D take the stage for the second round of matches. Spain met Sweden for a chance to win the group with one game remaining, and they started well. After just 15 minutes Liverpool’s Fernando Torres opened the deadlock, and it was hard not to feel that the Swedes were set to be dispatched as easily as Russia were 4 days ago.

But, Sweden were proving to be much more difficult to break down. Indeed it took a fantastically worked move to put the Spaniards ahead. A Xavi corner was taken quickly and the ball was passed short to David Villa, who moved the ball to Silva. The ball was whipped into Torres in the box, and he prodded it home.

Credit to Sweden though, as they fought their way back into the match, despite creating nothing early on. With 10 minutes of the first-half remaining, Stoor hit a cross into the box, and the Spanish defence allowed Ibrahimovic the time and space to take the ball down before hitting it past Casillas. A lacklustre attempt at a challenge from Sergio Ramos was easily shaken off by Ibrahimovic, and Casillas couldn’t keep it out despite getting a hand to the Inter Milan striker’s effort.

The second-half was dominated by the Spanish - but they found Man City goalkeeper Isaksson in fine form. It looked as though the day was going to be a frustrating one for Spain, as the match reached the 90th minute with the score still level. Hot property David Villa had other ideas….

In the 92nd minute he shot himself to the top of the top scorers table. He slipped between two Swedish defenders - who failed to clear the ball - and coolly slotted the ball home. Spain now win the group to avoid meeting the in-form Dutch.

Later on in the evening, holder’s Greece met Russia. Many fans, including CLDsport, have been disappointed with the extremely negative tactics that have been deployed by the holders. I, for one, am pleased to see them out of the tournament.

The only goal of the game came in the 34th minute, after a bizarre bit of goalkeeping from Sweden’s Nikopolidis. As the ball was crossed in, he decided to chase the ball past his far post. This strange decision allowed Semak to hook the ball back into the area for Zyryanov to finish easily.

This started a stage of Russian dominance, and they really should have increased their lead. Chances were coming regularly, but just as regularly they were being wasted. Russia will have to improve this if they are to advance to the quarter-finals. A team better than Greece could easily have punished them for their poor finishing!

Spain win the group, leaving Russia and Sweden to fight it out for the runners-up spot when they meet on Wednesday evening. The Swedes should be slight favourites, as they only need a draw to go through. The Russians look dangerous at times though, and if they improve their finishing they can definitely go through.

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