kupaya şok bir isviçre mağlûbiyetiyle başlayan ispanya iyice ritmini yakaladı. bugün portekizi yenerek zaten finale doğru gitmek istediğini gösterdi. japonyayı zar zor yenen paraguay'u da çeyrek finalde eleyeceğini ve yarı finale yükseleceğini düşünüyorum.
dünya kupası tarihinde ilk kez 4 güney amerikalı takım çeyrek finallere kaldı. uruguay, praguay, arjantin ve brezilya. işin ilginç yanı 4 takımın da çeyrek finalde rakipleri kendileri değil. yani teoride 4 ü de yarı finale çıkabilir...
bundan 4-5 yıl önce gencler.org için yaptığım araştırmada bir gençlerbirliği maçında 1 dakika içinde iki penaltı verildiğini görmüş ve "yok daha neler, kesin bir hata var" demiştim ama bugün ispanya - paraguay maçında 1 dakika içinde 2 takım da birer penaltı kullandı. ilginçtir ikisi de kaçırdı...
gerçekten 2010 dünya kupasının en inanılmaz olaylarından biriydi bu...
spain set up a potentially thrilling semi-final meeting with germany but the european champions had to do it the hard way, requiring a lone second-half strike from david villa to claim a 1-0 win over a resilient paraguay 1-0 at johannesburg’s ellis park. the goal saw villa take an outright lead in the race for the adidas golden boot with five goals but the match was as much a tale of two failed spot-kicks, one for each side.
vicente del bosque fielded an unchanged line-up to that which defeated neighbours portugal 1-0 four days ago. conversely, paraguay coach gerardo martino made six changes to the team which squeezed past japan on penalties. left out were his trio of misfiring strikers, with roque santa cruz, edgar benitez and lucas barrios all consigned to the bench.
both sides went into the match aiming for new heights. spain clinched a top-four finish in 1950 in a round-robin final stage but they have never competed in a fifa world cup™ semi-final, while paraguay had already achieved a first by progressing past the round of 16.
if spain were feeling complacent, then one of the new faces in la albirroja's forward line, jonathan santana, provided an early wake-up call by forcing iker casillas into a save in the opening minute. paraguay did not allow spain to settle and successfully disrupted their normally crisp passing game during the first half. the in-form villa only rarely found space on the left flank in the early stages, while at the other end nelson valdez looked dangerous whenever paraguay made forays forward.
spain midfielder xavi took matters into his own hands on the half-hour mark with a wonderful snap-shot, the dipping volley from 25 yards clearing the crossbar with goalkeeper justo villar scrambling. minutes later at the other end, santana narrowly failed to connect with a diving header from a claudio morel cross. valdez then had the ball in the net four minutes before the break only to see his effort disallowed for offside as paraguay finished the first half in a positive frame of mind.
the second half commenced in similar fashion to the first period, with neither goalkeeper under threat until a remarkable period around the hour-mark. the drama began when gerard pique wrestled oscar cardozo to the ground as a corner, paraguay's first of the night, was played in from the left. cardozo looked set to give la albirroja a stunning lead from the penalty spot against the european champions only for skipper casillas to rescue his side with a superb diving save to his left.
within 60 seconds, antolin alcaraz was deemed to have bundled over villa in the penalty area and spain had their own chance from the spot. xabi alonso buried his spot-kick but spanish joy was shortlived, with a retake ordered for encroachment. this time villar dived low to his left and parried alonso’s effort, and paraguay scrambled the rebound to safety.
minutes later, andres iniesta hit a curling effort that was well blocked by villar, and it was indeed to be the barcelona midfielder who proved the difference in the decisive moment of the match seven minutes from time. budweiser man of the match iniesta made a driving run from midfield, teeing up pedro, whose shot hit villar's right-hand post before rebounding to villa. the spain no7 accepted the gift. placing his effort against the left-hand post, the ball rebounded off the opposite post before eventually nestling into the net.
in the final minute, casillas saved his side with a double block from santa cruz and barrios, while villa was similarly denied by the impressive villar following a lightning counter-attack.
yardımcı hakemler: leonel leal (crc), carlos pastrana (hon)
4. hakem: benito archundia (mex)
paraguay: justo villar (gk) (c), dario veron, claudio morel, oscar cardozo, edgar barreto (dk. 64 enrique vera), jonathan santana, paulo da silva, victor caceres (dk. 84 lucas barrios), cristian riveros, nelson valdez (dk. 72 roque santa cruz), antolin alcaraz
teknik direktör: gerardo martino (arg)
ispanya: iker casillas (gk) (c), gerard pique, carles puyol (dk. 84 carlos marchena), andres iniesta, david villa, xavi, fernando torres (dk. 56 cesc fabregas), joan capdevila, xabi alonso (dk. 75 pedro), sergio ramos, sergio busquets
teknik direktör: vicente del bosque (esp)
gol: dk. 83 (david villa)
sarı kartlar: dk. 59 victor caceres, dk. 59 antolin alcaraz, dk. 71 claudio morel, dk. 88 jonathan santana (ispanya) dk. 57 gerard pique, dk. 63 sergio busquets (ispanya)
kaçan penaltılar: dk. 59 cardozo (paraguay) -iker casillas kurtardı- (pique rakibini ceza sahası içinde kolundan tutup düşürdü) dk. 60 xabi alonso (ispanya) -justo villar kurtardı- (antolin alcaraz villa'yı ceza alanında arkadan yaptığı şarjla düşürdü)
not: alanso normalde penaltıyı gole çevirdi ama hakem vuruş öncesi futbolcular içeri girdi diye golü iptal edip tekrarlattı ve ikinci atışta kaleci topu kurtardı...
iker casillas had done little to confirm his reputation as one of finest goalkeepers in the sport heading into spain's quarter-final with paraguay. the 29-year-old underlined his stature in the thickest of fonts at ellis park, however, denying oscar cardozo from the penalty spot in the 59th minute and producing a couple of decisive reflex saves to help la roja into the fifa world cup™ semi-finals for the first time.
“the penalty save was incidental,” reflected the humble casillas. “it was a pivotal moment and i was fortunate enough to save it. to tell the truth i dived that way because i’d been chatting about it with pepe reina before the game. he said that cardozo usually hit the ball hard and to his right-hand side. so, it came down to a mix of intuition, good luck and a team-mate’s help.”
reina explained: “he deserves all the credit because he’s the one who saved it. i don’t know if i helped or just confused him. i just mentioned it because that’s how cardozo took a penalty against me for benfica in a (uefa europa league) game.”
fernando torres was also full of praise for the spain captain, who became the first man to save penalties in normal time at two different fifa world cups, having also denied republic of ireland’s ian harte in the round of 16 of korea/japan 2002. “we’ve got great players throughout the side and there’s no doubt that today was casillas’s day," said the liverpool striker. "he deserves it."
Centre-back carlos marchena added: "we’ve got total faith in him as a keeper because he’s very good, and today he proved that emphatically.
casillas was not alone in saving a spot-kick at ellis park. paraguay's justo villar stopped xabi alonso’s retaken effort just three minutes after his spanish counterpart had denied cardozo. yet just as it seemed that a goal would not arrive for either team, up popped david villa to fire an 83rd-minute winner in off the far post.
“iker, as always, was faultless,” said villa of a goalkeeping display which also featured crucial one-on-one saves from both roque santa cruz and lucas barrios in the 88th minute. “we know just how many times he’s come to our rescue and how many times he’ll do so in the future.”
“iker’s always where he needs to be and it’s a real pleasure having him on our side,” said barcelona central defender gerard pique, with club-mate andres iniesta voicing similar sentiments: “he’s always been there to help out whenever we’ve needed him.”
what is more, casillas’s display against a brave paraguay side has firmly silenced those doubters accusing him of a lack of concentration in the group stage of the tournament. indeed, with just two goals conceded so far and his pivotal role in spain reaching the semi-finals, confidence will not be lacking as ‘saint iker’ attempts to guide la roja to the trophy for the very first time.
david villa...5...5...448...0...0...3...2 thomas mueller...4...5...383...0...0...4...0 wesley sneijder...4...5...442...0...0...2...2 miroslav klose...4...4...267...0...0...4...0 gonzalo higuain...4...4...341...0...0...4...0 robert vittek...4...4...353...1...0...3...1
players gf...goals for mp...matches played minp... minutes played pen...penalty goal og...own goal gsı...goals scored ın penalty area gso...goals scored from outside penalty area
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