Spain’s Villa goes postal

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This article was published 04/07/2010 (5937 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JOHANNESBURG — At their insolent best, and they were galaxies from that stratospheric level on Saturday, the Spaniards stroke around the soccer ball as if it were rolling smoothly this way and that across the green felt of a billiard table.

On Saturday, the game’s consummate trick-shot artists almost got snookered. Only a double-bank shot by David Villa saving face, and their World Cup aspirations.

"It has been a very tough, very uncomfortable match but this is what we expected — they didn’t let us play our game," Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque said following nervy 1-0 quarter-final win over a resolute Paraguay side at Ellis Park.

"In my time, a Spanish side never felt so uncomfortable or passed the ball so inaccurately.”

So after all the talk about South American dominance at this tournament, three of the four semifinalists hail from Europe.

For 82 minutes, those impatient fans in attendance witnessed plenty of lovely Spanish buildup, but the final, incisive ball was conspicuously lacking. The only real drama until Villa’s breakthrough were two penalty misses, in the space of three minutes, first by Paraguay’s Oscar Cardozo (an insipid effort, by the player who saw off Japan from the spot) and then Spain’s Xabi Alonso.

Alonso actually scored on his first spot kick, but a Paraguayan encroachment spotted by referee Carlos Batres forced a re-take.

On the second try, Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar produced a superb stop, diving to slap the ball, fired low and hard by Alonso, away with his left hand.

Just when it seemed extra time was in the cards, Spanish midfield maestro Andres Iniesta charged into the penalty area before distributing the ball to his right and a speeding Pedro. The man who replaced an ineffective Fernando Torres rattled his opportunity off the woodwork but that man Villa cleaned up, stroking a shot off the inside of the far post, the ball ricocheting across the face of goal, off the other post and in.

— Canwest News Service