Spain have too many big guns for Chile

WORLD CUP GROUP H Chile 1 Spain 2:THE CHAMPIONS of Europe may still have a little work to do to restore their status as outright favourites for their first world crown over the next couple of weeks, but a comfortable win over Chile last night not only steered Spain safely into the last 16 but enabled Vicente Del Bosque's men to sidestep a second-round clash with five-time champions Brazil.

First-half goals from David Villa and Andreas Iniesta put the Spaniards in a commanding position over their group rivals and from the point in the second half that the Chileans realised a narrow defeat would do them, Spain confidently seized their opportunity to erase the memory of their opening game defeat by moving into the knockout stages as group winners.

Rich with potential before the kick-off, the game looked over by half-time with Spain two goals up and their opponents reduced to 10 men, all of which left the Chilean fans waiting anxiously on news from Bloemfontein. They need not have worried as Switzerland were making heavy going of securing the win they needed to send the South Americans home.

Having pulled one back, their players gradually came to realise that the Swiss were unlikely to secure the two-goal margin and late on they settled for getting 10 men behind the ball against opponents who clearly saw no need to penetrate such a defensive shield.

“My thinking was that if we got one goal we could go on and get a draw,” said Chile’s Argentinian coach Marcelo Bielsa afterwards. “But as the game went on I think the players instinctively came to the conclusion that things would be okay if they kept the scoreline as it was.”

Nerve-racking as it all must have been for a spell, the supporters had nobody really but their own players to blame when things seemed to be going badly. Villa might have produced a wonderful opportunist strike from almost 40 metres to put the European champions ahead after 25 minutes. But he had been gifted the opportunity to take aim an empty net by goalkeeper Claudio Bravo who, having come a long, long way to prevent Fernando Torres getting onto the end of Joan Capdevila’s long pass out of defence, did no more than tamely push the ball into the path of the tournament’s top scorer.

It is 40 games now, since the Spanish had blown a winning position but things quickly got worse for the Chileans who should have had Marco Estrada sent off when the midfielder, already on a booking for a poor challenge on Sergio Busquets, clattered into the same opponent.

Justice of sorts was done in the 38th minute, however, when what looked to be an accidental trip on Torres during the build-up to a well-taken Andres Iniesta goal caught the attention of the referee who returned to the 27-year-old armed with both cards after playing a good advantage.

Having originally sought to take the game to his side’s opponents, Bielsa suddenly found himself having to rein things in while somehow not entirely giving up on the hunt for a goal.

His approach was to pack midfield while leaving just three defenders and Jorge Valdivia to roam alone up front and his side struggled from there until the break as the Spaniards started to exploit their advantage by coolly knocking the ball around to good effect.

Understandably enough, it was half-time before the Argentine managed to adequately address the sudden imbalance within the team and his changes at that stage paid swift dividends with one of two substitutes, Rodrigo Millar, soon firing home a shot from the edge of the area which took a big deflection off Spain defender Gerard Pique.

Clearly the goal came as a shock to the Spanish system and while they were still reeling the South Americans might have had a second but for one of their strikers having strayed slightly offside.

Del Bosque’s men then seemed to recover their poise, taking control of the contest thanks to assured passing and patient build-up work.

Villa twice came close to restoring his side’s two-goal lead but was let down once by poor control and then robbed of the chance to shoot by a great Waldo Ponce intervention.

By then, Torres, struggling slightly with a strained muscle (which his manager insisted afterwards was gone), was replaced by Cesc Fabregas after a useful but still goalless performance.

Xabi Alonso, who along with Xavi had been hugely influential in midfield, followed not long after as Del Bosque looked to bring on fresh legs and conserve the Real Madrid man for Tuesday’s trip to Cape Town.

With considerable assurance and a good deal of co-operation from their opponents late on, they drained the life from the game, gently prodding at the opponents from around the half-way line but rarely showing much inclination to push forward.

“They made it very difficult for us,” insisted Del Bosque afterwards, “even when they went down to 10 men and for a while I think my players became a little nervous. But in the end we accomplished our goal of qualification and that is the most important thing.

“As for the next round, anyone who watched the game earlier today will have seen how well Portugal controlled Brazil, how strong they looked when they counter -attacked. It is good to have qualified but I take no satisfaction when I think of us playing Portugal instead of Brazil. They are both excellent teams.”