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2010 World Cup: Spain 1-0 Portugal – Report

Angela Asante, June 29 2010,
A poor match, and a slim result. A purely offside David Villa goal helped Spain eclipse Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal 1-0 to book a quarter-final meeting against Paraguay in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

David Villa's clear offside goal revealed by camera replays and pictured.

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Ricardo Costa saw red in the latter stages of the game as controversial officiating continued in the tournament, despite football fans worldwide appealing for justice to be better executed in the sport...

Favored Spain Dominate Against Overshadowed Portugal

It wasn’t what people wanted to see although many had favored Spain to come out on top at the end of proceedings. From start to finish, it was clear that Portugal were only second-best. Fernando Torres and David Villa imposed their attacking game and helped Spain restrict the Portuguese to nothing more than a defensive game. Carlos Queiroz’s 4-3-3 formation was definitely not working. Pressure was piled up on goalkeeper Eduardo to produce admirable saves to keep Portugal from falling behind before the break.

 

2008 European Championship winning manager, Luis Aragones, had advised Vicente Del Bosque’s side not to allow Portugal to have the ball. In fact, the Spaniards were doing just that. Cristiano Ronaldo, Hugo Almeida, and Simao Sabrosa were left with few touches on the ball. They could only watch as their opposite numbers were working at the other end of the field to pierce Portugal’s back line.

There were very few chances for the Portuguese and their fans certainly wondered about the team’s mentality on the night.

The least opportunities that fell were also squandered. Hugo Almeida placed a header well off-target in the first period at the frustration of Captain Cristiano Ronaldo. Talking about the world’s most expensive footballer, you would love to think that he had flu. His performance was nothing near remarkable. Still, he came close to creating something for Portugal through a free-kick which got nervously saved by the uncomfortable Iker Casillas. 

Finally, David Villa found the breakthrough with a 63rd minute offside goal which proved to be the only one in the match.

The new Barcelona signing had a first shot on target savCristiano Ronaldo complaining to the referee after being fouled.ed but he didn’t fail to take his chance on the rebound although the referee should have blown the whistle for offside. Opportunities multiplied for the Spanish with Sergio Ramos and David Villa again trying their luck with long range shots.

The psychological damage had been done on the Portuguese. Even Fabio Coentrao’s relatively good performance throughout the match wasn’t enough to inspire Portugal to create a miracle. Cristiano Ronaldo had insisted a few number of times that he was not a miracle-doer before the 2010 World Cup. Surely, this is what he meant tonight as his experience in the sport counted for nothing.

But it will also be fair to remind that the Argentine referee on the night amazingly denied Portugal from being awarded a free-kick each time Cristiano Ronaldo was clearly fouled. To add more pain to what was already a frustrating moment for the Portuguese, Ricardo Costa was flashed a 89th minute red card after being accused of recklessly fouling Spain’s Capdevila.

Once again, officiSpain players celebrate after beating Portugal 1-0.ating at the 2010 World Cup will come under criticism as replays revealed that there was no contact. So what could have slapped Capdevila’s face then for him to theatrically fall to the ground and clutch his face? The name of such movement is actually called, ‘a dive’ – and that was the third blatant dive in the competition which got a player of the opposite team booked.

That should remind people of Fernando Torres’ dive which earned Estrada a second yellow card, as well as Jozy Altidore’s dramatic fall which had Ghana’s Dede Ayew suspended ahead of his side’s quarter-final match against Uruguay.

So Portugal never did enough against their Iberian rivals. Spain wrapped up a controversial 1-0 victory in the end. A meeting against Paraguay awaits them. The world's most expensive footballer and his team have crashed out but the manner in which they did exit the competition has already created debates everywhere over refereeing.

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