Day 6, World Cup 2010: Spain 0 Switzerland 1

Running right alongside Brazil 2014, this is my day-by-day story of how Spain won the last World Cup. You can catch up on previous posts.

These stories are from Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble, by Graham Hunter

Spain v Switzerland

Uno y dos y tres … ganar y ganar y ganar!

 

The team talk is nothing bellicose. Compact. Low-key. Precisely 69 seconds long.

“Okay guys, what are our tasks today?

“Let’s get our heads in this game. The thing I want you to watch out for is if they have a free-kick then those who are not in the wall need to watch for them being smart and trying to feed the ball to runners, so David Villa and Xavi – watch out. Don’t let them surprise us.

“Pay attention to the fact that this is an important game – no red cards. If someone gets himself sent off then it’s a problem for the team and a problem for him.

“Nobody gets suckered into making mistakes. For Andres and David [Silva], make sure you are vigilant [in the wide positions], neither of you can lose concentration for a second.

“Think about winning and holding possession, think about using that possession to push the team forwards. Keep the ball moving. Sergio [Busquets], and Xavi, each of your positions needs to be dependent on the other – especially if one of you moves forward to initiate the play. If Pique pushes on to start a move you have to compensate for that.

“But above all be conscious of looking out for your team-mates, be conscious of being a united team, please.”

To shouts of vamos! they form their dressing-room huddle, every single player and staff member is in. And then comes their signature tune.

One voice: “Uno y dos y tres.”

All voices: “Ganar y Ganar y Ganar!”

My match position is 20 yards behind and to the right of Iker Casillas’ goal in the first half, as is that of his girlfriend, the television reporter Sara Carbonero. Like us, the game is beauty and the beast.

Spain play with verve and width, they create one-on-one chances and Alonso hits the bar. Piqué’s opportunity to score is easily the best, receiving a sweet pass from Iniesta, cutting inside the centre-back, Stephane Grichting, and shaping to put a right-footed shot to the left of the keeper. As he spreads his body, Diego Benaglio gets his left knee in place to deflect the shot wide.

The European champions have 24 attempts at goal, put eight on target, force 12 corners, commit 13 fewer fouls than the Swiss, don’t see a yellow card (to Switzerland’s four) but the beast is: they lose.

Six minutes after the break, Switzerland crash through the barrier of Spain’s doble pivote in midfield, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets, the latter of whom makes two key mistakes. First, he is out-jumped by Eren Derdiyok, who will later come close to making it 2-0 when he trickles an effort off the post. Second, and worse, the Catalan fails to track the run of the Swiss striker after their challenge.

Carles Puyol rushes forward to plug the gap, but Blaise Nkufo, having picked up possession, returns the ball to Derdiyok sufficiently quickly that the defender is taken out of the move and Piqué is isolated. Derdiyok sprints to a one-on-one position against Casillas, who attempts to dive in and tackle with his feet. The ball breaks off both men, hits Derdiyok in mid-air, deflects off Piqué, who is sprinting to cover the goal line, and as the Catalan defender falls, a victim of the chaos in front of him, the ball squirms out from underneath his body and lies there for Gelson Fernandes, who has been padding alongside as an interested spectator, to stab home. The Keystone Kops feel increases when the boots of both Derdiyok and Casillas catch Piqué in the face.

In the dressing room, Arbeloa yells: “This isn’t where it ends, this is where it begins.”

Spain 0 Switzerland 1

Spain: Casillas, Ramos, Puyol, Piqué, Capdevila; Alonso, Xavi, Busquets (Torres

61); Iniesta (Pedro 77), Villa, Silva (Navas 62)

Switzerland: Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Senderos (Von Bergen 35), Grichting,

Ziegler, Barnetta (Eggiman 92), Inler, Huggel, Fernandes, Derdiyok (Yakin 79),

Nkufo

Goal: Fernandes 52

Read Next Day 5, World Cup 2010: Win first, entertain second Read Next Del Bosque: Politics and passion