The Spanish team celebrates after beating Portugal
Carl Kinsella
Staff Writer
Portugal 0 – 0 Spain (Spain win 4-2 on penalties)
Spain edged their way into the final of a third successive major tournament last night after Portugal pushed them as far as a penalty shootout. Portugal saw their tournament hopes dashed when Cesc Fabregas’ winning penalty struck the inside of the post before nestling in the far corner of Rui Patricio’s goal.
The goal brought a moment of immense relief for the Spaniards who had been sternly tested by Portugal’s tenacious attackers throughout the game. The entire Spanish back five – Sergio Ramos in particular – turned in sterling displays in the face of Portugal’s firebrand Cristiano Ronaldo and his supporting cast. It was a game in which opportunities were limited, owing greatly to the stranglehold maintained by both defences on their men. Any aspiring centre-back need look no further than last night’s game for a master-class in how to keep a forward quiet.
Vicente Del Bosque surprised everyone but himself by benching both Fabregas and Fernando Torres in favour of Alvaro Negredo. The Sevilla striker failed to threaten Rui Patricio’s goal once over the course of the first half. His one tangible contribution saw him holding the ball up in the Portuguese box at the beginning of a move that culminated in Andres Iniesta’s curled effort land on top of the Portuguese goal. However, this sort of tameness was not limited to Negredo. Hugo Almeida, Portugal’s replacement for the injured Helder Postiga was repeatedly beaten in the air by his marker, Ramos. The first forty-five minutes was encapsulated in one move when Ronaldo broke free down the left-wing and swung a dangerous cross into the box, only for it to be caught cleanly by Iker Casillas. Both defences were snuffing out danger before the ball could get anywhere near the goal.
The second half continued in a similar vein. The introduction of Fabregas and Jesus Navas gave Spain more mobility in front of Portugal’s defensive line, but Bruno Alves and Pepe stuck to their task. At times, players showed a bit too much commitment to the cause, most notably Xabi Alonso hacking down Ronaldo, and Manuel Veloso whose studs-up connected dangerously with Jordi Alba. For all the neat passing play and tough tackles, the game still lacked in any dramatic goalmouth action. Ronaldo was blessed three free-kicks from menacing positions – the results would make you question his reputation as a set piece expert. A late surge at the Spanish defence saw Ronaldo played through by Raul Meireles, only sky his effort. It was confirmation that Portugal did carry a threat, but their main man was simply failing to live up to his hype.
Spain were more than happy to wind the clock down into extra time, proven by Casillas’ hanging onto the ball with his feet for a solid thirty seconds in the dying embers of normal time. Once the extra-time begun, Spain actually dominated what had been an extremely even match in normal time; if anything, Portugal had been pressing more to that point. The best chance of the game fell to Andres Iniesta after a mazy run by Jordi Alba saw him break into the Portuguese box. The left-back wiggled his way forward before chipping a cross into the unmarked Iniesta who saw his weak side-footed effort parried out towards over the touchline by Rui Patricio. The toll of 120 minutes of football was starting to show, but as an onslaught of Spanish corners came to nothing, the match became the second of the tournament, and second in a row, to be decided by penalties.
It was the Portuguese who first had cause to celebrate when Xabi Alonso (who had put a penalty past Hugo Lloris not four days ago) saw his low effort powerfully stopped by Rui Patricio. The celebrations immediately fell flat when penalty veteran Iker Casillas did the very same to Joao Moutinho’s penalty, killing Portugal’s advantage dead. From there on out, Spain were in charge with Pique and Iniesta slotting calm finishes home before Sergio Ramos stepped up to the plate to bury the memories of his penalty shocker in the Champion’s League with the ballsiest penalty since Andrea Pirlo chipped Joe Hart two days ago. Both Nani and Ferreira beat Spanish captain Casillas but when Bruno Alves’ penalty crashed against the crossbar, Portugal were mere seconds from crashing out of Euro 2012. Cristiano Ronaldo was scheduled to be Portugal’s fifth penalty taker ensuring that there would always be a chance that his opportunity would come too late to be of any impact, which is exactly what happened. Portuguese papers tomorrow will surely be asking many questions of their captain and penalty-taker, who tonight seemed to choose the potential for personal glory over pragmatism.
As Paolo Bento and his men are left to rue the possibility that they were undone by hubris after 120 of presenting Spain with their toughest challenge in years, Spain will half-strut and half-hobble into next week’s grand finale. Their players will be exhausted after this pain-staking encounter, as evidence by Xavi’s removal on 90 minutes. Spain have made it to their third successive major final and now only one questions remains – can they win the damn thing?
