Paraguay vs Spain, First Half: An Interesting Goalless First Half
Spain may have displayed a delightful attacking performance in the first half of the match but the Paraguayans will have to be congratulated for holding on to a clean sheet at the break. Coach Gerardo Martino had dropped strikers Roque Santa Cruz and Lucas Barrios which left Valdez with more options upfront each time Paraguay broke forward in search of a goal.
For Spain, Iniesta and Xavi were tremendous in midfield, providing balls to Sergio Ramos who was dangerous on the right wing. But Fernando Torres wasn’t quite efficient upfront, at the relief of the Paraguayans.
Valdez thought he had broken the deadlock a few minutes before half time when he put the ball past Iker Casillas. But the Spaniards could breathe again as the linesman signaled for offside. Earlier on, Xavi’s volley from outside the D scared the Paraguayans before Santana failed to connect with a cross despite being left unmarked in front of Spain’s goal post.
Paraguay vs Spain, Second Half: David Villa, Hero Once Again
The second period offered more drama – although arguably not as much as people could witness in Friday’s match between Uruguay and Ghana.
Just seconds after Fernando Torres came off for Cesc Fabregas in the 56th minute, Paraguay was awarded a penalty thanks to Pique’s unprofessional challenge inside the box. Cardozo had a glorious opportunity to put his side in the lead, but his left-footed shot was anticipated by Iker Casillas who eventually caught the ball to prevent Spain from falling behind.
Amazingly, at the other end of the field, the same thing happened. Just as the game resumed following Cardozo's penalty miss, David Villa broke forward and went down in the penalty area rather easily. But the referee pointed to the spot at the astonishment of the Paraguayans. What a blow!
But luck and destiny was there to give the story an even more dramatic tone. Xabi Alonso took charge of converting the spot kick and he didn’t fail in his attempt. But as all the Spanish players were celebrating Alonso’s achievement, the referee pointed to the spot again for the penalty to be taken one more time as replays showed that the Spaniards had reacted before Alonso executed his kick.
So the Real Madrid midfielder had to take the penalty again only to see goalkeeper Villar produce a sublime save. Fabregas went to the ground in the process of trying to score on the rebound. But the referee wasn’t interested in awarding Spain with another penalty. Still goalless; goalkeeper Villar even denied Iniesta from finding the breakthrough with an excellent curling shot. The Paraguayan shot stopper was stealing the spotlight.
Xavi’s first time shot could have punished Paraguay’s nervous defense moments later. But the heroic moment, the most important one in the match, fell onto no-one but David Villa with seven minutes of normal time to go. It started with Andres Iniesta’s cruising run which destroyed Paraguay’s well-built defense. The Barcelona man fed his club team mate and substitute Pedro whose strike hit the foot of the post. The ball rolled onto David Villa who was there to smash it in off the post. This time, it was a clean goal – unlike the offside one that had carried Spain into the quarter-finals at the expense of Portugal.
Roque Santa Cruz almost clinched a late equalizer for Paraguay when his first time shot from the rebound of Lucas Barrios' strike was well saved by Iker Casillas. In fact, the Paraguayans couldn’t add more to the only three goals they had scored in their four previous 2010 World Cup matches.
When the final whistle went up, the Spanish celebrated with tears of joy while Paraguay’s Cardozo – who missed a penalty – was left dejected in tears of sorrow. Spain will meet Germany in the semi-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
