The objective was achieved with a worked 0 - 1 victory over Belarus that had its moments of "danger" for Spain especially in the 2º half. Spain suffers a long term chronic problem upfront, lack of goal & effective Football to shut their matches. Said differently, plenty of ball domination - up to 65-68% - plenty of goal chances but ineffective in terms of conversions.
Spain started with the following 11 players:
Casillas; Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Cazorla, Cesc; Silva, Pedro & Morata.
Belarus conscious of their resources adopted to defend & attempt the counter-attack if Spain made mistakes. The first half was all Spain with plenty of opportunities to score but could not finish things off. The opener finally came in the 45th min from a free kick that the Belarus goalie could not reach & found David Silva who controlled & fired home.
The second half saw Belarus lift their game & take more risks looking for the equalizer. The home side created more chances & Spanish keeper Iker Casillas had to make two-three important saves to avoid Belarus equalizing the game. Spain looked out of place up till the 70th min when Coach Del Bosque made chances (in Vitolo, Isco...) to give new ideas upfront & fresh legs. Spain regained control & again created chances, with Morata & Silva having notable clear opportunities, but again not able to finish things off. Right up till the end of the game there were more Spanish chances but the Belarus defence & goalie stopped everything.
In the end the 0 - 1 was enough to give Spain the win & the valuable 3 points, but with a sour taste that goalscoring is a ongoing problem.
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