Spain sticks to plan, reaches final
Lightning flashed, thunder boomed and the rain pelted down in Vienna, but Spain was not to be denied.
Playing perhaps its most complete game at soccer’s European Championship, Coach Luis Aragones’ Spanish team rolled over Russia, 3-0, on Thursday to advance to the final of the quadrennial tournament for the first time in 24 years.
On Sunday, Spain will play Germany as it seeks its first title since 1964 while the Germans seek their fourth since 1972.
Based on Thursday’s performance, Spain is in with a chance.
Aragones’ players did a masterful job of thwarting Russia’s formidable attack. Playmaker Andrei Arshavin was rendered virtually anonymous by the well-organized Spanish defenders.
Similarly, striker Roman Pavlyuchenko was time and again denied the opportunity to take shots, but for one early rocket that screamed over the crossbar.
Russia’s most dangerous wide player, Yuri Zhirkov, worked tireless down the left flank to get behind the Spanish defense but was foiled by right back Sergio Ramos.
The end result was that although the teams were pretty even in the first half, Spain took control in the second 45 minutes and in the end proved a worthy winner.
One turning point came when Spanish forward David Villa, the tournament’s leading goal scorer, strained a muscle in his right thigh in the 35th minute and was replaced by Cesc Fabregas. Villa will miss Sunday’s final.
Fabregas was the most influential player on the rain-soaked field in the second half and helped set up two of the goals.
Spain went ahead in the 50th minute when midfielder Andres Iniesta sent a probing cross into the Russian penalty area where Xavi eluded a defender and stabbed the ball past Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev from just a few yards out.
The lead was doubled in the 73rd minute when Fabregas chipped the ball in superb fashion to Daniel Guiza and the striker beat Akinfeev with a shot using the outside of his right foot as the goalkeeper dived in the opposite direction.
With only eight minutes left, Spain, which had beaten Russia, 4-1, in the tournament’s first round, completed the rout when the lively David Silva slammed the ball into the back of the net off a pass from Fabregas.
“Now we’ve got a team in front of us which is Germany and that’s a very big challenge,” said Aragones, who more than lived up to his nickname as “the Wise Man of Hortaleza” by the tactics he employed to foil Russia.
Aragones’ team is now unbeaten in 21 consecutive matches.
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Jones reported from Los Angeles.
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