World Cup Photos: Spain 1-0 Portugal – David Villa Soars, Ronaldo Flops

Ollie Irish

30th, June 2010

3 Comments

By Ollie Irish

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Picture 1 of 20

A Spanish fan shows her support, in the stands prior to kick off

Portugal’s tactics were very simple but very flawed: 1) Park the proverbial bus, 2) Stick Cristiano Ronaldo up front on his own. This didn’t work, as Spain didn’t let Portugal touch the ball. Poor old Carlos Queiroz didn’t seem to have a clue, did he!?

Justice, then. Spain came to win, they wanted to win, they fully deserved to win. Most importantly, they got the win, which means they’re still on course to become the first team in World Cup history to win the tournament despite losing their opening match.

Thinking more about this match, I feel a little sorry for Ronaldo (don’t tell anyone though). He was hung out to dry, and although he behaved like the spoiled narcissist we know he is, it must be very frustrating when you fail to connect with your team-mates in any way.

Spain were excellent – David Villa especially (how good will Barcelona be next season – scary even to think about it) – and are growing stronger with each match. They will beat Paraguay (surely!?) and then comes a mouthwatering semi-final against either Argentina or Germany. For what it’s worth, I think Spain will triumph against Argentina in that game, then lose to Brazil in the final. Bet on that if you wish. I am seldom right in these matters.

Posted in Featured, Photos, World Cup

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3 Comments

  1. hammer on says:

    A normal win by the best team.
    But the referee blunders seem to continue…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zK88yl6Dk0

  2. Ping Yang says:

    “I think Spain will triumph against Argentina in that game, then lose to Brazil in the final. Bet on that if you wish. I am seldom right in these matters.” – Ollie Irish
    HMMMM Brazil 1 – Holland 2, Enough said….

  3. Temjin says:

    Huge fa1l. Train wreck waiting to happen. If Ray Domenech didn’t set foot in south africa Queiroz would be the most hated manager ever to set foot on a world cup. Loved by pundits (who basically set it up for the job a good 2 years or so before he got it, hated by the vast najority of the portuguese public.
    The limp qualification, the growing problems with indiscipline, casting mistakes gallore (God bless Coentrão and Eduardo for breaking the mould), the disgusting Over-hype back home. We all saw the signs, but we couldn’t do anything to stop it.
    C-Ron is the perfect poster child for the whole situation. The decision to make him captain was an extremely unpopular one. Benfica fans hate him because he flip them the bird once, Sporting Lisbon fans hate him for celebrating quite emphatically the goals he scored against his former club, Porto fans hate him for that goal he scored in the Champions league, every single football fan in Portugal hates his spoiled Guido attitudes. Girls and armchair fans love him though, and they make up a very decent slice of the national team’s target public.
    We never cared for the “cynical” and “cheatin’ bastards” tags other fans labelled us with. Sore losing is universal and we’ve all been there before. No need to get offended and we never did.
    However, under Queiroz we became cynical to the max. A perfect mirror of the gaffer, a man that on arriving back in Lisbon said ” We scored 7 goals and only conceded 1 in 4 matches, I don’t see what all the fuss is about”.
    For us the nightmare continues, at least for 2 more years.

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