Game in a sentence
Croatia worked hard to shut down the defending European and World champions, but they were foiled by a late Jesus Navas strike, eliminating The Blazers from Euro 2012 while Spain top Group C with seven points.
Observations
- From the beginning, Croatia looked confident and organized while maintaining their stamina. Most teams who face Spain usually have to cope with fatigue, but the Croatian defenders worked tirelessly for the full ninety minutes.
- Spain’s wide players, particularly Andres Iniesta, David Silva and Alvaro Arbeloa, did very well whenever they had the ball along the flanks or countered up the pitch with pace, but they weren’t able to penetrate the Croatian penalty area as much as they would’ve liked to.
- It took Spain twelve minutes to penetrate Croatia’s penalty area, and they only did so a total of seven times, significantly less than in their match against Ireland.
- That can be credited to the performance of Gordon Schildenfeld, who closed down an invisible Fernando Torres and restricted Spain to four on target shots which were handled routinely by Stipe Pletikosa.
- The majority of Croatia’s chances came from the counter attack, but with Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique playing more defensive as opposed to the Spanish fullbacks, Mario Mandzukic or Ivan Rakitic couldn’t muster up a clean attempt.
- The second half brought more of the same, but Croatia started to get more shots on Iker Casillas’ goal and defended even better than they did in the first forty-five minutes.
- After an abysmal showing by Fernando Torres, who was being frustrated by Schildenfeld, he was substituted for Jesus Navas. He moved out to the right and David Silva moved into the center, making a similar 4-6-0 formation that Vicente Del Bosque played in La Roja’s opener against Italy.
- The Spanish midfield trio of Xabi Alonso, Xavi and Sergio Busquets controlled the game as expected, but it was Sergio Busquets who played an exquisite ball to Andres Iniesta, who narrowly beat the Croatian offside trap, then controlled it with his chest, passed it across to Jesus Navas who powered it into the open goal to give the champions the lead on eighty-eight minutes.
- It was a heartbreaking goal to concede because along with Italy’s 2-0 win over The Republic of Ireland, it meant that Croatia would be eliminated, and that’s exactly what happened. Despite terrific efforts in all of their games, Croatia will be going home, but credit to them for handling Spain for the majority of the game.
- Spain meanwhile will have some thinking to do as they were held to a scoreless draw and didn’t get a solid performance from their center forward. Del Bosque is a smart man though, there’s a reason why he’s won the most coveted prize in football, surely he’ll have a solution.
Three stars
1. Sergio Busquets
2. Andres Iniesta
3. Gordon Schildenfeld
It was Fabregas that gave the lofted pass to Iniesta for the opener not Busquets
i second that. Cescmagnificent. reminiscent of Dani Guiza 2008 goal vs Russia in semifinal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OKrRKliUtA&feature=player_detailpage#t=32s
I don’t like silva starting for spain. would much rather watch fabregas play or see Pedro or Mata at some point.
I have a feeling we won’t see them.
I thought Silva was their best player today. Especially in the first half.
All in all good game by Croatia. They were impressive. Luka Modric played like a star…..he’ll make a lot of money this summer.
For Spain…..if they play like this against Germany the will lose. Midfield battle of Xavi, Alonso, Busquets vs Schweinsteiger Ozil Khedira is going to be epic and if they play each other that is where the game will be lost or won
A shame to lose on a clear offside . Croatia really out played the Spanish .
Definitely not an off-side after you check out the replay and see that Iniesta is in-line with the last man (unless you want to count his arm which doesn’t count). Navas was behicd Iniesta when the final pass was made also. Please be objective and accept the goal. Heartbreaking for Croatia. For me, they’re much better than theGroup A qualifiers but that’s football!
Not an offside…….but Croatia…..man should have taken their chances. Spain would have been out. Tough luck….Spain was the better side but Croatia played Spain as well as I’ve seen anyone play them in recent history.
I agree. It was kind of a rope-a-dope strategy. For most of the first half it seemed like they were shepherding, not pressing-to-regain-possession, the Spanish and conserving energy. Only in the final third did they put in the extra effort to steal the ball.
The Croatian coach used his resources extremely well.
A 0-0 draw would have sent Croatia home anyway though
In real-time, I thought both passes were offside. On the replay, in slow-motion, it seemed clear to me that both were onside.
Iniesta beat that offside trap by just a hair…(not literally), splendid effort from Croatian side
I thought Casillas was one of the most important players in the field today. With only 2 saves, he changed the course of the game. Also I like a lot how Spain plays with Cesc on top, I feel that he understands better the style of play than Torres
Why Spain are absolutely amazing:
They force their opponents to get their sht together so the world can see what they’re truly made of. Spain’s opponents can either fold inwards for the cowards/pathetic talents they are (i.e. ireland) or inspire them to play the best footy of their lives.
Croatia did the latter. Again, just as the world saw with regards to italy, that’s as good as croatia gets. AND SPAIN WERE AVERAGE HAHAHA. croatia were TRYING SOOOOOOOO HARD HAHAHA SOOOOOO HARD. Spain were just waiting for the draw, they couldn’t care less hahahah.
The problem with Spain: They don’t respect their opponents enough to give a damn until it’s the final. That’s the only thing that will cost them, if it does.
TORRES STILL SUCKS, HE ALWAYS HAD AND ALWAYS WILL. HE LOSES THE BALL. CAN’T PASS. AND LOSES THE BALL AGAIN.
Fabregas needs to play more.
RAMOS’S TACKLES WERE BEAST TODAY. HE SAVED 2 BREAKAWAYS AND A MANDZUKIC 1 ON 1 IN THE BOX. THAT TACKLE WAS LEGIT. ALL BALL. OF COURSE HE GOT THE PLAYER.
THIS ISN’T SCHOOL YARD FOOTBALL JEEZUS CHRIST. IF YOU’RE A CENTRAL DEFENDER, YOU’RE GONNA SEND A MESSAGE TO THEIR BEST PLAYERS BY A HARD BALL WINNING AND FOOT CRUNCHING TACKLES. Well done Ramos. Respect.
Just because Mandzukic’s foot hurt a lot, it means it’s a foul?!?! Grow up. That was an indelible and godly tackle.
It was nice to see the croats run around, try so hard, and play their hearts out hahaha. You could tell by the way Iniesta, Silva and others were playing there was NO urgency at all hahaha they weren’t even trying. This is getting ridiculous.
We have 11 guys busting their ballz off trying to score ONE GOAL on a team that isn’t giving 100%. This is ridiculous.
Here’s to hoping Spain draw the english so the world can see what the english are really made of. Will they fold, buckle and be destroyed? Or will they muster up a valiant and eventually futile effort?!?!
“Spain meanwhile will have some thinking to do as they were held to a scoreless draw and didn’t get a solid performance from their center forward.” Huh? Where was this scoreless draw you speak of?!
for 88 minutes they couldn’t score. and it took a substitute off of the CF to get the job done. that’s what he means.
Too bad Croatia didn’t get the call on the penalty… But I’m not surprised.
Navas’ goal is a perfect example of why the “not interfering with the play” offside rule is B.S.!
@Didier Drogba- thought you were Ivorian, not Spanish. If you can peel your lips off of Ramos’ ass for long enough you might remember the Champs league semi-final between Barcelona and Chelsea. I’m not an England fan but if anyone can do likewise to Spain, it’s England. Lol