By FRANCO PANIZO
Spain entered its World Cup opener against Switzerland on a 12-game winning streak and as the heavy favorites to not only win the game and Group H, but also the World Cup.
Nobody told Switzerland that.
The Swiss displayed an impressive defensive effort, holding David Villa and Spain scoreless en route to a shocking 1-0 victory that to this point is the upset of the tournament.
The goal came in the 52nd minute when Eren Derdiyok rounded Iker Casillas only to be tackled by Gerard Pique. With the ball lying in front of the net, Gelson Fernandes raced onto it and smashed it into the goal, giving Switzerland an unlikely lead.
In one of the more exciting halves played so far, Spain desperately threw numbers forward in search of an equalizer. Xabi Alonso came close to tying the game in the 70th, when his shot from distance smacked off the crossbar.
Here are the match highlights, as well as from the rest of Wednesday's games:
Uruguay shuts out South Africa, 3-0
South Africa came one step closer to unwanted history as it lost to Uruguay, 3-0, in its second match in Group A.
The hosts put forth a dismal performance against Uruguay, looking lifeless in attack and struggling to cope with the creativity of Diego Forlan. The loss gave South Africa just one point through two games, raising the chances of it becoming the first host nation to not make it out of the group stage.
Forlan put Uruguay ahead in the first half with a 25-yard shot that took a deflection before sailing over South Africa goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.
Khune's night got worse when he received a red card in the second half for clipping Luis Suarez on a clear goalscoring opportunity in the penalty area. Forlan stepped up and scored the ensuing spot kick, making him the tournament's first multi-goal scorer.
Alvaro Pereira added a third in stoppage time, sloppily finishing off a Suarez cross from close range.
Here are the match highlights:
Chile cruises to 1-0 victory over Honduras
Jean Beausejour scored in the first half of Chile's Group H opener to give the South Americans a 1-0 win against Honduras.
Breaking a 48-year streak of failing to win a match at a World Cup, Chile enjoyed a successful return with a dominant performance against Los Catrachos. Despite scoring just once, Chile was rarely troubled by a dormant Honduras attack and took a deserved lead in the 34th minute.
Right back Mauricio Isla made an overlapping run down his flank before serving in a cross that Beausejour netted off his backside off a failed clearance attempt from Sergio Mendoza.
Chile came close to adding to its lead on several occasions, including on a point-blank header from defender Waldo Ponce that was incredibly parried by Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares.
Here are the match highlights:
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What do you think of Switzerland's performance vs. Spain? Shocked Spain lost? Disappointed by South Africa's showing? Who had a stronger performance, Chile or Uruguay? Do you see Honduras scoring a goal this World Cup?
Share your thoughts below.
As keeper myself, and past my prime, I have to say… seeing Casillas go in feet first is a bad sign for him. That is what keepers do when they have lost their fearlessness. He is in trouble.
Probably because Casillas probably started as an outfield player and, for some goalkeepers in that situation, a sliding tackle still seems more natural.
You would have thought that since almost all the Spanish players and the Manager were part of that US game they would have recognized what was happening right away. Yet they kept doing the same thing over and over again.
For all of you who think Bradley is a tactical dufus and doesn’t react well to the game how do you explain Spain and Del Bosque?Yep, all them European coaches are tactical geniuses, make brilliant substitutions and are astute game managers.
I’ve rarely seen anything in soccer as beautiful as the counter-attack led by Donovan and Davies at the Confed Cup. Counter-attacking can be just as gorgeous as anything. And simple passing doesn’t necessarily mean more beautiful soccer. When Spain is frustrated and just kicking the pall backwards and horizontally to unmarked, unpressed men, that’s not beautiful. It’s not even interesting. It’s boring.
I was watching the game and thinking it ws a carbon copy of the USA strategy. Bunker in and counter. Spain is very one dimensional and even the announcer said “they will never stop their passing ways” or something like that.
You crowd the middle, make them go to the wings and then have your big defenders clear the ball out because their forwards are small.
I’ve said it from the beginning, Spain is doing nothing in this tourney.
Those Brits weren’t Everton fans I guess.
I disagree. It was a fascinating game to watch. I’m always amused when people say that teams like the US or Switzerland are being negative against Spain.
The object of these tournaments is to win or at least to advance. No one plays wide open, flowing attacking football better than Spain. So why would anyone even try?
For you Americans; if you’ve got a great fastball hitter at the plate do you throw him fastballs? Don’t quarterbacks stay away from the side of the field with the great cover corners? If you are playing the Phoenix Suns don’t you try to slow down the game?
None of these World Cup managers are there to commit suicide; they want to get as many points as possible and advance, if they can.
That is why, from the fans perspective this is often a boring tournament. Then again I’m the sort of person who likes 1-0 pitching duels in baseball.
Jorge,
Do you have a link for that quote?
Thanks
typical euro-snobbery… but yeah, goalkeeping error again, only this time, we can’t blame it on the ball. why in the world did he go in with his feet?
Typical Brits, if you ask me.
Real football fans,critics & writers alike have overwhelming reverberated praise on Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama and USA’s Tim Howard, easily the two stand out performances by GK’s of the tournament.
I’m sure it’s nothing more than English being a bit antagonized by their own expectations and certainly some resentment of our growing stature and potential in the world’s game.
At least that’s my personal opinion.
No more vuvuzelas?
this is what i get for not including my sarcasm tags.
I saw a bunch of Brit commentators chuckling over how silly the Americans are for thinking Tim is one of the best keepers in the world, and how he’s not on par with casillas. All I know is that Tim Howard would have dove headfirst and used his hands to stop that rebound instead of sliding in feet first and practically kicking it in himself … Idiot. Maybe casillas is better than Timmy with his feet, but last time I checked, goaltenders can use their hands.
Conversely the first step to losing is not playing to win.
right! in the ideal soccer world we get the Dutch and Spaniards or Germans and Brasilians in a masterpiece of pressure free, one touch flowing football for the final.
In real world we’re as like to get Brazil, Argentina, Holland, England and France buckling under the pressure heaped upon them and the one-counter, flop in the box, man-childs that are Italy stealing the trophy while no one is looking..
word up. if the USA makes a deep run you can be sure there will be moments of coyote fugly football along the way, but if they were to actually lift the pokal as a result you’d better believe all would be forgiven…
hey jose mourhino is a genius for getting his teams to suck the life out of an opponent… why shouldn’t BB use it as a tactic and be praised for it?
The first step toward winning is not losing.
oh come on….
yeah, im definently seeing that trend lol.
It’s just you.
This has been going on for years. Same old same old. First round of games and no one wants to lose so everyone is ultra cautious.
It might get better the next round… or worse. The World Cup is about advancing not putting on a show. The last champs, Italy were truly awful to watch but were very efficient, effective, ruthless and cold blooded. The kind of thing only a manager could love to watch.
Is it just me, or is the defend/absorb/counter tactic especially prevalent this WC? Only a few teams have played attacking soccer. Granted, things are always going to be more cautious in the first game. But I do think the success of Murinho’s Inter, and yes our Yanks’ performance against Spain and Brazil have influenced a lot.
Chile lived up to the hype. They attack and do it in style. It will be very interesting to see the Chile/Switzerland game and if Chile can break down their defense.
Honduras are a good team that got hit with bad luck at the worst time. Costly got injured a month before the cup, De Leon injured the day before the game, and Suazo still recovering from injury. Honduras lost all it’s offensive players and it showed. The players make a humongous difference. I hope the find a way to turn the ship around. I don’t like Rueda’s tactics, he always switches to a 4-5-1 away from home and it never has worked for them. If they would start two strikers they are much deadlier. Even with all the injuries they should not have played a 4-5-1, they should stick to the 4-4-2 that got them here.
with spain loosing i cant imagine what they’ll pull on monday i expect that game to be a real rout and whats with all this bob bradley hating you cant diss the commander and chief you should all be charged with treason (international company excluded)
Oops I meant Del Bosque!
It’s Luis Aragones who’s a joke!
Putting two DM’s to play Switzerland, including Sergio Busquets who should not even have been picked to go to SA, and playing Davis Silva on his “wrong” side!
Seriously?
Also not having Marco Senna!
The guy is trying to be the anti- Aragones!
Switzerland played practical, clinical defending and forceful counterattacking! They played like their watches work.
I suppose I agree with what you’re saying, but to call that game a joke is just stupid in my opinion. For me, that was no joke. That was an incredible defensive performance on the part of the Swiss team, which should be just as admired as the offensive stars of Spain. That’s a joke? No, that’s just as good football as Spain play, it’s just the ugly side. Also, What do you call the Swiss goal? That was definitely a counter attack. The reason the Swiss got less chances than the USA is probably because their offensive players aren’t as good as the USA and one of their best attackers, Stefan Frei, was out with an injury, which makes their victory even MORE impressive.
Fair enough, Mig22.
Spain do play some beautiful football, so I’m with ya on the entertainment side of things.
That is truly the point. So many people blame Brazil and Dunga for change their beautiful style of play but what Spain is experiencing now is what the Brazilians learned in 1982.
I do believe that in the heart of many football lovers, one wants to see Spain playing like they do AND winning by 3 or 4 goals. One can dream…
Yeah, ICU, as I said, I understand why they do it. But that game today was a joke right from the start. The US (and some other tweener level teams) play counter attack football but the Swiss today parked the bus from the start and never tried to keep the ball. They simply hoofed it long and in two cases, the ball bounced around and they had scoring chances….one went in.
Like I said, I understand, I suppose, why they do it but today seemed particularly egregious and I think it’s fair to hope I never have to watch them again.
Cheers!
So Bob Bradley is the revolutionary coach to come up with the tactic for beating the world’s best team. It even worked for the Swiss. BB just can’t get a break, cuz it seems he still gets no love from US fans.
Wide open, flowing football is fantastic to watch…no doubt.
However, winning a World Cup, is something else. I’ll take 3 points over style points any day of the week.
I figured they did that. It felt like dejavu watching the game. Guess spains secret is out
I understand why Switzerland and Greece play the way they play but wow does a tournament improve as soon as they are out. Unfortunately, the Swiss will probably advance. The sad thing is, the Swiss could actually play if they wanted to.
Oh well, it’s somebody to root against.
Euro teams .500 vs. non Euro sides and looking typically mediocre when the Cup is not on the continent.
i think it was a joke. haha
Despite a likely exit on South Africa’s part, there are more African nations in the tournament that are capable of advancing and by all accounts, many SA’s have said they will begin supporting them should SA get eliminated.
Hate for Bob Bradley even here? I like the guy – the US team seems to be greater than the sum of its parts. What else can you ask of a coach?
Interestingly, I watched the US game last Saturday at a great soccer bar, The Amsterdam, in St. Louis. The guy sitting next to me used to coach with Bob Bradley at the university level. The quote of the day from my new friend – “Bob didn’t reallly talk to anybody. We all thought he was psycho.” Roll on psycho. Roll on.
As for the post, Groups G and H just became the most interesting in the tournament I think.
fire bob bradley now.
i was literally going to say, “I bet the Swiss watch the USA/Spain tape over and over and over”.
haha that is awesome
I thought you guys and girls would be interested in reading the following words from the Swiss coach:
“We saw how the Americans played against Spain with a lot of interest,” Hitzfeld said. “You know that if you are going to have a chance against [the Spanish] you need to do certain things very well.
“The USA did not try to do everything. They accepted the fact that Spain has pace and width and simply made sure they kept the center of defense as tight as they could. It is not a perfect system, but it was a very interesting tactic and it worked.”
I’m waitng for spain to blame this game on the pitch or something and do you really think fifa will let the hosts get eliminated in the first round. The attendance will really suffer if they do