SPAIN finally defeated FRANCE in an official game of Football 2 - 0 in the quarter-final of the 2012 EURO. The reigning European & World Champions move on to meet next Wednesday Portugal in the semi-final.
Spanish Football Team Coach Del Bosque repeated with the same starting line-up as with Italy, that is, without a true forward. CESC FABRAGAS, winning the name of "False Forward", again surprised everyone in the line-up. Frankly, the "Del Bosque" experiment is not to my personal liking but my arguments fail if Spain wins & I prefer the latter always to my personal opinion.
Without a true forward, Spain gains a man in the midfield & with France going in with a defensive drawing, Spain dominated the ball all the first half with 75% ball possession. The French, as other teams, ran after the ball as Spain wore them down little by little. The first goal came in the 19th min when Jordi Alba crossed the ball to an incoming XABI ALONSO who headed home the opening goal.
The second half saw France attempt to find the equalizer & Coach Blanc put on Nasri ( surprisingly left out) Menez & Giroud. The plan had some effect as they put the Spanish defence under pressure & forced Casillas do another great save.
Spain however reacted putting on Pedro & Fernando Torres ( finally a reference upfront) & that counter-balanced the French efforts. The Spanish ball possession had dropped to around 54% & with the changes that percentage again rose as Cazorla can on towards the end.
It was a Carzola pass to Pedro who was fouled in the goal square that brought on a penalty to Spain in the 91st min which XABI ALONSOscored for his second & thus securing the Spanish victory. Great way for Alonso to finish the night after gaining his 100th International Cap for Spain.
Now its Portugal in the semi-finals & I do hope that Del Bosque does forget about the "false forward" experiment. I think it has lost its novelty effect.
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