Tonight World Cup 2014 Group I qualifier with Finland hosting Spain. The Spanish Football National Team comfortably won an awkward & sticky Finland team 0 - 2. Big step for Spain towards securing the Top spot of their Group & thus allowing them to automatically qualify for Brazil 2014. Group second placed France also helped out drawing 0 - 0 with Georgia & thus allowing Spain to open up a 3 point gap.
Spanish National Selector & Coach Vicente Del Bosque surprised many putting on Iker Casillas as the starting goalie over the in form Victor Valdes. A decision which I personally do not share & that will keep the debate going on back in Spain. Del Bosque also surprised putting on Atletico de Madrid midfielder Koke ahead of Arbeloa as right back. But these decisions overall will not be much talked about as firstly, Koke put in a good performance, Spain won & Finland did not trouble the Spanish goal enough to test out Casillas.
Spain played their ball dominating Football while Finland put 10 men into defence & awaited counter-attacking opportunities. This type of tactical set-up lead to a "boring" & "frustrating" match to watch as Spain kept smashing into the Finland wall. The home team did have "runaway" chances but failed to finish & were extremely inaccurate.
The two goals for Spain came primarily from the superior quality of the Spanish players & team which were rewarded for their consistency. The first goal came in the 17th min when Cesc Fabregas found Jordi Alba who scored. The second came late in the game when substitute forward Alvaro Negredo receive a ball from another substitute Jesus Navas in a 85th min counter-attack that was converted by the Manchester City player.
In conclusion, not a brilliant game, nor beautiful to the eye, but a victory that gives three important & value points keeping Spain top of Group I
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