Final Score - WC2010 Second Round, Brazil vs Spain

Monday 28th June 2010 - Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg - Att. 54,096
Referee: Howard Webb (England)

LINEUPS:
Brazil (451): Cesar, Malcon (G Melo 68'), Bastos, Lucio, Juan, G Silva, F Melo (Kleberson 86'), Alves, Fabiano, Kaka, Robinho (Baptista 81')
Spain (442): Casillas, Ramos, Capdevila, Puyol, Pique, Busquets, ALonso, Xavi (D Silva 45'), Villa (Mata 63'), Torres, Iniesta (Pedro 83')

This battle of footballing giants was probably the most hyped of the second round, but a rather drab first half tempered expectations with long periods of non-threatening play broken up by the odd goalscoring opportunity.

The opening quarter of an hour was something of a wash as both sides looked to maintain possession and nothing else. Then suddenly a poor pass was picked off by Brazil's Melo and his through ball found Gilberto Silva who has tapped by a desperate Capdevilla for a penalty. His booking would mean he will miss the quarterfinals if Spain were to come back and win today. Fabiano was cool as he dispatched the spot kick for his second goal of the tournament.

The next moment worthy of mentioning came eleven minutes later when poor control from Malcon allowed Fernando Torres to swoop in and steal the ball before sending Villa clean in on goal. Cesar came to cut down the angle and Villa found his options limited, ultimately crashing his high shot against the crossbar. Brazil then marched down the other end where Melo blazed his effort over the bar after good work from Robinho to pull the ball back to him.

The half ended with a little bit of controversy when Kaka had a goal disallowed in stoppage time. Silva crossed the ball into the goalmouth where Melo headed the ball over to Kaka who looked to have made contact with the ball at the same time as he collided with the goalkeeper. The referee was quick to give a free kick to Spain who only went into the interval down a single goal.

The game opened up a lot in the second half with both teams threatening through good passing and dangerous crosses. Spain were the livelier team out there with Puyol and Iniesta both heading the ball on target but neither could beat Cesar in his goal. After the hour mark Brazil had another chance to score the insurance goal with Kaka denied by an excellent save by Casillas, and ten minutes later they were caught shorthanded in defence allowing David Silva and Torres to orchestrate a neat pass-and-move tactic but still they couldn't find a way past the Brazilian goalie.

Brazil shut down after that scare and, despite a couple of set piece chances for Gilberto Melo and Fabiano, contained the game in the final stages without risking many bodies forward for an attack. 

Brazil 1 - 0 Spain
Goalscorers:
BRA  Fabiano 17'

Discipline:
ESP Capdevila 16'
ESP Puyol 72'
ESP Pique 90'

Man of the Match:
BRA Michel Bastos

Final Score - WC2010 Group H, Chile vs Spain

Friday 25th June 2010 - Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria - Att. 41,958
Referee: Marco Rodríguez (Mexico)

LINEUPS:
Chile (433): Bravo, Jara, Vidal, Ponce, Medel, Carmona (Tello 83'), Isla, Valdivia, Suazo, Beausejour (Millar 72'), Sanchez (Orellana 45')
Spain (442): Casillas, Ramos, Capdevila, Puyol, Pique, Busquets, Alonso (Navas 65'), Xavi, Villa (Llorente 83'), Torres, Iniesta (Martinez 54')

Arturo Vidal returned to the lineup for Chile after missing the last game through suspension and picked up another yellow card in the 40th minute to place him one foul away from another sending off. He survived and so did Chile through the first half after they had the first shot at goal. After Carmona shot wide Spain started coming in waves with Bravo needing to be at his best to stop Alonso scoring in the 15th minute. Villa and Xavi squandered chances with the latter scuffing both his shots into the ground to end up as easy pickings for Bravo. Chile would have one very long range effort before halftime, but no matter how powerful it was it was still straight at Casillas.

Chile picked it up in the second half and should have had the lead in the 51st minute when Vidal missed badly from a few yards out. Beausejour headed over and Valdivia, who had the ranged shot in the first half, smacked another one from distance this time hitting the crossbar. Spain were kept off balance, unable to generate much at the other end and their inability to adapt would cost them top spot in Group H. With only seconds until the referee was due to blow the final whistle two Chilean subs combined to create some very late drama.

Rodrigo Tello fed a very nice ball through for Rodrigo Millar to run onto but Pique looked to have had a hold on his shirt as the midfielder entered the area, leading to Mr Rodriguez pointing to the spot. Up stepped Humberto Suazo who had played a very quiet game to dispatch the penalty and score his tournament-leading fourth goal.

Chile 1 - 0 Spain
Goalscorers:
CHI Suazo 90' (4)

Discipline:
CHI Vidal 40'

Man of the Match:
ESP Carles Puyol

GROUP H
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Chile	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
Spain	3	2	0	1	4	1	+3	6
Honduras	2	0	0	2	1	4	-3	0
Switzerland	2	0	0	2	0	6	-6	0

Final Score - WC2010 Group H, Spain vs Honduras

Monday 21st June 2010 - Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg - Att. 54,386
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)

LINEUPS:
Spain (442): Casillas, Ramos, Capdevila, Puyol, Pique, Busquets, Alonso, Xavi, Villa (Mata 75'), Torres (Pedro 59'), Iniesta
Honduras (451): Valladares, Mendoza, Izaguirre, Chavez, Figueroa (Thomas 71'), W. Palacios, Guevara (Je. Palacios 45'), Nunez, Suazo, Espinoza, Alvarez (Pavon 45')

Spain enjoyed a simple outing against Honduras and join Chile in the second round. The first half was neatly controlled by the Spanish, creating chances in the opening twenty minutes for Alonso, Villa and Torres with the latter coming closest, only denied by the legs of Valladares. Honduras then started to hinder the play of their opponents, earning themselves almost ten minutes of respite before Spain once again hit the target and this time it would count for something.

A poor clearance by the Hondurans was intercepted by Alonso who, after a fine run, looped in a cross for David Villa to head home like a bullet. Two minutes later and up popped Villa again to score with the head, Pique providing the long ball on this occasion. He could have made it a hat trick before half time when Torres sat the ball up perfectly for him but this time his header lacked real sting.

Honduras made a desperation move with a double substitution at halftime and, while they enjoyed more possession, they were unable to really generate much offence. When the final ball was not lacking and they did have a sight at goal the closest they came to scoring was when Ramon Nunez hit the post with his 75th minute free kick.

Spain 2 - 0 Honduras
Goalscorers:
ESP Villa 29'
ESP Villa 31'

Discipline:
ESP Capdevila 65'

Man of the Match:
ESP David Villa

GROUP H
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Chile	2	2	0	0	6	1	+5	6
Spain	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6
Honduras	2	0	0	2	1	4	-3	0
Switzerland	2	0	0	2	0	6	-6	0

Final Score - WC2010 Group H, Spain vs Switzerland

Wednesday 16th June 2010 - Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban. Att: 62,453
Referee: Howard Webb (England)

LINEUPS:
Spain (442): Casilias, Ramos, Capdevila, Puyol, Pique (Fabregas 68'), Busquets, Alonso, Xavi (Silva 68'), Villa, Torres, Iniesta (Navas 86')
Switzerland (442): Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, Ziegler, Grichting, von Bergen, Huggel, Inler (Behrami 61'), Barnetta, Nkufo (Padalino 82'), Derdiyok, Fernandez (Frei 61')

Spain did enough to win, even without their usual amount of possession, and it only took four minutes for Fernando Torres to finish off Iniesta's neatly chipped ball into the box. After that Switzerland were able to exert some pressure on one of the tournament favourites with Eren Derdiyok unlucky to not score on Nkufo's far post cross; his header blocked on the line. The resulting corner found Derdiyok again but Iker Casillas was quick to save.

The Swiss continued to enjoy passages of play where they probed around the Spanish defence without much penetration, and Spain had more chances to score but Alonso (over) and Pique (wide) missed in good scoring positions.

Switzerland came close to equalising early in the second half when Derdiyok turned provider, his strong run and cross unrewarded when Blaise Nkufo completely missed the ball with a lot of goal to shoot at. Six minutes later and the game was over with Spain piling on the Swiss through a series of corners, ultimately making one count through Andres Iniesta.

The final talking point was a second yellow card to Reto Zeigler to make him the third player sent off in two days. He will be unavailable for the Switzerland v Chile game.

Spain 2 - 0 Switzerland
Goalscorers:
ESP Torres 4'
ESP Iniesta 60'

Discipline:
SUI Zeigler 29'
ESP Pique 46'
SUI Zeigler 73' (Off)

Man of the Match:
ESP Andres Iniesta

GROUP H
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	3
Chile	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3
Honduras	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
Switzerland	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	0