Two offensive powerhouses, Russia and Spain, met to see who would advance to face Germany in the UEFA Euro 2008 soccer finals.
Spain beat Russia soundly in their group match: Spanish striker David Villa scored three goals as Spain triumphed 4–1. But the Russian squad is undaunted. As Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev put it, "We have almost made it to the top of the mountain, but we want to reach the peak."
The Russian team is young and energetic and tremendously excited to have advanced so far. Russia has two players—defender Denis Kolodin and midfielder Dmitri Torbinski—out on suspension. The rest of the team will have to work hard to keep high-scoring Spain out of the finals.
The Spanish team is preparing to defend as well as attack; they feel that their normal game will be sufficient to beat the Russians as long as the Spanish forwards play their men tight. "I want to see them pressing the central defenders, not just shadowing them. I want proper, high-energy pressing and I want them to rob the ball from Russia's defenders as early as possible," explained Spanish coach Luis Aragonés.
Rain poured down in solid sheets throughout the match, but the pitch held up through the first half, and the rain didn't seem to be a factor otherwise.
Lightning flashed overhead throughout the match, which was somewhat more of a factor—for the television audiences. Yesterday's Germany-Turkey match was knocked off the air repeatedly by lightning strikes.
Conservative Soccer
Both teams came out playing patient offense, passing and running without the ball to create opening. However, both teams were more focused on defense. The few shots on net were handled easily by the goalkeepers.
At 14:26 Spain's Fernando Torres tangled with Sergei Ignashevich in the Russian penalty area. The referee gave the free kick to Russia.
Russia played the ball downfield to forward Andrei Arshavin. Spanish defender Carles Puyol pulled Arshavin down, earning Russia a free kick. Roman Pavlyuchenko drove a rocket just over the crossbar—possibly Russia's best effort in the half.
At 28 minutes Spain also got a good chance on a free kick, but Torres sent it right at Russian keeper Akinfeev.
Neither team made a concerted offensive effort throughout the first half. Both teams seemed to be waiting for the other to make a serious error on defense.
The game seemed to heat up just a bit in the last several minutes of the half, with Spain in particular pushing harder on offense, but Russia played perfect defense, and neither keeper was tested.
The half ended with neither team having scored.
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