The Spanish Football U-20 National Team made a laboured comeback to defeat Mexico 2 - 1 in the FIFA World Championship last 16 team phase being played in Turkey. This game was knock-out & Spain was on the ropes against a very talented Mexican team that went down due to defensive mistakes & some bad luck.
Oliver Torres
Mexico started on fire with a 2º min goal from Gonzalez that "rocked" the Spanish youngsters. The first half was all Mexico which created opportunities of more goals while Spain held off the attacks. Mexico would later pay dearly for not finishing off Spain while they had the chance & the Spaniards managed to shake off the initial "fright" & grew stronger.
Spain was lead in the 2º half by a sensation Oliver Torres, the midfielder took control of the centre & settled the Spain team to begin the play making attacks. In one of those advances Spain won a corner which was flicked onto incoming Spanish defender Derik at the far postwho equalized in the 74th min. It was a Mexican defensive mistake as they lost the flick-on & did not see Derik coming in from behind. Then when things looked like it would go into extra-time, Spanish forward Jese shot at goal & the ball flicked off a Mexican defender to put Spain ahead in the 91st min. Mexico could not react in time. A gritty effort from Spain which illustrated the maturity of the team & that they can handle the pressure. Spain now moves onto the quarter-final phase where things will get harder with some excellent squads up ahead, however this Spanish U-20 Team is capable of big things. SPAIN 2 : Sotres; Manquillo, Derik, Puerto (Suso, 51’), Bernat; Saúl, Campaña; Deulofeu (Denis, 68’), Óliver, Jesé; & Alcácer (Llorente, 92’). MEXICO 1 : Sánchez; Abella, Fuentes, Marín, Hernández; López (Zamorano, 61’), Espericueta, Van Rankin, González (Luna, 84’); Corona & Bueno. Goals: 0-1 (2’) Gonzalez. 1-1 (74’) Derik. 2-1 (91’) Jese. Tweet
Giovani Dos Santos is perhaps the pearl of Mexican Football at this moment. It still baffles me how the 24 year old ex-FC Barcelona player hasn't as yet found a permanent team after having to leave Barça due to "overcrowding" & flowing through Tottenham Hotspurs, Ipswich Town, Galatasaray, Racing de Santander & Real Mallorca.
Hopefully his wandering through the "Football Forest" will soon come to an end as mayor Spanish Football Clubs has the Mexican International on their signing agendas after his current Club Real Mallorca relegated to the Spanish 2º Division. Newly promoted Liga Club Villareal is thinking in Gio as their long time midfield Captain Senna moves of to US Soccer. However, Valencia CF & Atletico de Madrid are also hoovering around & have their eyes set as well on the talented player. The player himself has knocked back offers from US Soccer with big money in the interest of the more competitive European Football. A good performance with Mexico in the Confederations Cup will lift his billing & hopefully put Gio in a Club were he can finally settle down & cultivate all his natural talent. Tweet
The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM defeated well its recently won FIFA World Champion crown with a hard fought 1-1 draw against MEXICO in the 200th anniversary of the Mexican Nation-state Friendly International match at the “Azteca Stadium”.
Spain went into this game with most of its regular starters coming in straight from holidays, with “jet-lag” & having to overcome altitude obstacles. However, no Spanish official or player complained & everyone tonight put in a 100% effort to keep the national pride high & prove why Spain won the 2010 World Cup. Everyone should be proud as it was shown that the Spanish Team has depth to keep the level high in the future as substitutes & newcomers played in the first half magnificently.
But as expected it was Mexico who got ahead first via new Manchester United signing JAVIER HERNANDEZ who took advantage of a Spanish defensive slip to score in the 12th min. From here Mexico dominated as Spain was slower & ridged with the only danger coming from Spanish midfielder Cazorla who hit the cross-bar.
The 2ºhalf saw Spanish Coach Vicente Del Bosque make up to 8 changes & give a run to the regulars that bettered the team gradually managing to take back full control in the last 15 minutes. Players like Navas, Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Pedro, Silva, Pique & Xavi took control of the ball & dominated play in the habitual & now World famous style of the Spanish team. In fact it was a superb Xavi pass to SILVA that allowed the latter to score in the 91st min to equalize the match. Silva could have given Spain the victory a minute later but missed his opportunity with a wide shot.
Special mention should be given to the only three Spanish players that played the full 90 mins; Cazorla was brilliant, along with Arbeloa & Monreal who both showed great physical strength.
In conclusion, an entertaining game by both sides with a deserved draw result.Tweet
The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM will be back in action tonight in an International Friendly game against Mexixo in the latters "Azteca Stadium". Only two National teams have managed a victory in their first game after being crowned FIFA World Champions (Argentina 1978, Brazil 1994) since 1978. The mayority have debuted with the "World Champion Star" on their shirts with a loss.
The match is schedule for 22.00 Spanish local time
The possible SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAMstarting 11 line up has been bravely given by Spanish Sports daily "Marca" & remains pure specualtion even if given by this paper:
Casillas, Arbeloa, Marchena, Puyol, Monreal, Bruno, Busquets, Cesc Fabregas, Cazorla, Mata & Fernando Llorente.
The Spanish Team Selector & Coach Vicente Del Bosque has asked FIFA to allow 8 substitutions tonight so that he can give the other World Cup Champions ( Xavi, Ramos, Navas, Villa, Pique, Capdevila, X Alonso, Valdes...etc) a 15 minute run in this 200th anniversary match for Mexico celebrating its independence.Tweet
The SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM will play its first International Football match tomorrow with the "Star" on their shirt as World Champion. Spain plays Mexico away tomorrow at the famous "Azteca Stadium".
However, debuting tomorrow with the long wished & hard fought "World Champions Star" may also turn out to be the Spanish Teams first defeat since winning the World Cup Final against Holland a month ago. A long list of Spanish players have gone straight into this game directly from their holidays, especially the FC Barcelona players like Villa, Pique, Pedro, Xavi, Valdes & Puyol, while others like Real Madrid players Xabi Alonso, Ramos, Casillas ...etc are way below optimal form. In fact there is another difficulty for the Spaniards, the altutude with the playing field being more than 2,000 mts above sea level.
Local Clubs like FC Barcelona have been very critical with the timing of this Friendly International & have managed to come to an agreement with the Spanish Football Federation to only allow 15 mins of playing time for the Barça players. This "pact" will affect the global performance of the Spanish Team with multiple changes being enforced during the match & "obligatory" bench-time for some important players.
Its clear that Spain will not be going into this game as intensely as the local opponents who celebrate their 200th anniversary as a Nation. Psychologically the Mexicans are more pumped as their player comments to media suggest that they desire to win the World Champions in this special occasion & win prestige with a positive result.
Either way it promises to be an interesting game that will be worth watching to see how Spain manages to overcome these pre-season difficulties & how Mexico plays with a new Coach after Aguirre resigned due to the unsuccessful World Cup results. Tweet
Original Source: Sp Ftball Sprts Blog / As mentioned yesterday SFS begins to get into FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 mode. Today begins a daily serving that highlights the 32 teams, with their photo, that will be competing in South Africa starting the 11th of June. Today GROUP A is featured, with tomorrow Group B & so on daily until Group H.
Hope these photos serve the many global readers who enjoy collecting them.
At times throughout the World of Football things occur that transcend frontiers & deserve to be posted on any Sporting Blog by their pure merit & universal Football appeal. SFS has seen this amazing goal & wishes to share it with its readers.
It occurred last weekend in Mexico. The team CRUZ AZUL was playing its Round 13 game of the Mexican League against MORELIA. Suddenly Cruz Azul forward LUIS ANGEL LANDIN does this:
Perfectly realize that this is not from Spain , but from our brothers from Nauchalpan (Mexico). This goal is soooo amazing that SFS posts it for all of its readers who are Universal Football lovers. Watch & enjoy!
ATLETICO DE MADRID continue with their Mexican Tour & played their third game against the TIGERS. A game that brought the Spaniards their first goals via JOHN HEITINGA with a header in the 58th min & via DIEGO FORLAN in the 62th min to put them 0-2 ahead.
However, the tiredness & the constant changes in the team lineup gave the Mexicans the opportunities to get back & draw the match thanks to PEREZ in the75th min & VINIEGRA in the 79th min.
Disappointing for the Spaniards to let their opponents fight back & draw, but good signs of improvements as the team are playing much better.
Match summary:
Tigres 2: Óscar Pérez; Diego Martínez, Hugo Sánchez (m.46, Cerda), Erik Martínez (m.52, Jiménez), Jonathán de León (m.69, Viniegra); Guillermo Marino, Lucas Ayala, José Rivas, Julio Aguilar (m.46, Benítez), Francisco Fonseca & Blás Pérez.
Atlético de Madrid 2: Gregory Coupet; Mariano Pernía, Luis Amaranto Perea, Juan Valera (m.60, Seiteridis), John Heitinga; Paulo Assuncao, Maxi Rodríguez (m.55, De las Cuevas), Simao (m.55, Reyes), Cléber Santana (m.66, Raúl García); Sinama Pongolle (m.64, Ramos) & Diego Forlán.
Goals: 0-1, m.58: John Heitinga; 0-2, m.62: Diego Forlán; 1-2, m.75: Blás Pérez; 2-2, m.79: Manuel Viniegra.
ATLETICO DE MADRID experienced their second defeat yesterday in their Mexican pre-season Tour. The Spanish team went down 1-0 to Mexican Club CRUZ AZUL in the 7th min when new Atletico keeper COUPET made a mistake & allowed Edgar Andrade to score.
Atletico gave a run to all its stars & new signnings, & were unlucky to not score. It´s early days & the team continues to get to know each other (specially the new players), get into shape & find the rhythm of competive games. They will continue in Mexico with more games in the coming days.
Match details:
Cruz Azul - 1: Yosgart Gutiérrez, Joaquín Beltrán (m.79, Castro), Julio César Domínguez, Rogelio Chávez (m.65, Lozano), Carlos Bonet (m.62, Lugo), Gerardo Torrado, Edgar Andrade (m.62, Vela), Christian Riveros (m.78, Velasco), Nicolás Vigneri (m.46, Ceballos), César Villaluz & Miguel Sabah. Coach: Benjamín Galindo.
Atlético de Madrid - 0: Gregory Coupet, Antonio López (m.60, Pernía), Pablo Ibañez (m.87, Perea), Tomas Ujfalusi, Giorgios Seitaridis (m.60, Valera), Paulo Assuncao (m.46, Heitinga), Raúl García (m.70, Rubén Ramos), Maxi Rodríguez (m.46, Miguel), Simao (m.46, Luis García), Sinama Pongolle (m.60, Costa) & Diego Forlán (m.46, Cléber). Coach: Javier Aguirre.
Putting my grain of sand to help contribute in expanding Spanish Football - Soccer | Sports abroad. An ex-amateur Footballer long ago - alias Striker - is now a fan that has the game embedded in his Football - Soccer Sports heart.
