Euro 2008 LIVEBLOG: Spain vs Russia

GROUP D	June 10th, 1800 CET, Innsbruck (Austria)
Spain 4 VS Russia 1 Villa 21′, 44′, 75′; Cesc 90′   Pavlyuchenk 85′

FULLTIME

GOAL CESC. Well done by Villa to wait for the cavalry. Akinfeev saves a great one timer and the rebound just winds up as an early gift for Cesc.

The Russian defense has been fairly terrible today. No question. Akinfeev doesn’t deserve this scoreline.

90′ Russian counter winds up as a corner - Mama Russia looking much better since Adamov came on.

Semov makes a brutal attempt on goal. Too soft after being sat perfectly in front of Casillas.

89′ Criminal clearance by Sergio HAB Ramos there. Very lucky that didn’t translate into #2.

Pavlyuchenko goal:

GOAL PAVLYUCHENKO. Russia pulls one back off a header at the far post. Too little too late, but it’ll be something to improve morale going into their second round game.

85′ Zhirkov with a beauty of a cross. He’s going to wind up on the wishlist of a few Western European clubs.

83′ Casillas gets plowed into, looks just a bit shaken up but worrying times for the Spanish.

78′ Gesu, Villa going for number 4. No one must be happier than Valencia right now. Or maybe not. But they’ll enjoy his pricetag.

77′ Xabi Alonso on for David Silva. So now it’s Cesc, Xavi and Xabi Alonso. That’s like a walking, talking silver platter.

Number Three:

Ladies and gents, your Golden Boot. 3-0 Spain. Game Ovah.

VILLA. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL.

72′ Russia could use them some Andrei Arshavin right now. Obviously this is the toughest game of the group, but they’re lacking that final ball - be it a shot or pass - and that’s his specialty. Can’t bode well for them.

70′ Whoa, Adamov comes on for Bystrov. Sub for a sub? Don’t second question Guus, right?

69′ Beautiful pass to Pavlyuchenko, who has his shot stuffed by Puyol. Good chance to make something happen there.

68′ Senna header punched out and then Silva has a good volley saved. Spain looking primed for a third.

67′ Ahh, Hot As Balls with a good cross on the ball to a waiting Villa in front of the net before Zyryanov came flying in to save the day.

65′ Russians donate the ball again to the Spanish cause…..Akinfeev has to come out to sweep up the ball from a surging Cesc and a clear 1v1.

63′ Iniesta off, Cazorla on.

61′ Spain on the break again…Villa had an open run if only Silva could’ve fed the ball. That coulda shoulda woulda been 3. Flubbed ball to the Russians.

60′ Bilyaletdinov shoots one just wide. Best chance they’ve had in a bit.

ESPN is reporting on the bottomline that Roger Clemens used to keep Viagra in his locker, saying “Viagra can allegedly be used to build endurance”. Oh really. Insert punchline here.

58′ Villa with a hard shot on the break, damn near 3. Terrible defending by Russia there.

56′ Hot As Balls loses the ball, Senna makes a nice tackle as Mother Russia attempting to play through the box.

Semshov on for Torbinsky.

54′ Here comes Cesc, on for Fernando Torres.

52′ Semak with a nice idea as Russia is setting up near the box, but puts it too far over the top.

50′ Russia on the attack again after Bystrov’s header easily saved. Casillas has had to pay attention quite a bit, but not hugely tested yet. (Aside from that post work by Russia.)

48′ More possession for Russia (I think - multi-tasking), but they haven’t created too many clear chances on goal.

46′ Slow start to the half, I suppose Russia would prefer that at the moment.

SECOND HALF KICKOFF

Sychev off for Bystrov

David Villa #2:

HALFTIME Possession may be to Russia (probably), but the quality has come from Spain.

Clinical attacking from Spain. They are making incisive diagonal runs through that backline and Russia has no idea what to do.

Short corner, poor ball by Zyryanov. Spain counter….DAVID VILLA. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL.

42′ Pavlyuchenko takes a helluva shot on goal but fouled to get the ball. A for effort.

40′ Pavlyuchenko offside for a gimme. Missed it anyway. He seems like a prime candidate for substitution.

38′ Torres cuts through but his passing is a touch off and Silva, who seems to be paying a triute to Caspar the ghost here, has to stretch out missing a good chance..

35” Hey, Tommy Smyth and Derek Rae are talking about Scotland. Whaddyaknow?

Though their passing does leave something to be desired at times. Maybe they can borrow Cesc?

33′ Bumbling ball just at the top of the Spanish box, Zyryanov can’t quite find an open space. Spain has the goal, but you could argue Mother Russia has looked the better team.

31′ Zyryanov just offside. Iniesta darting through the midfield and Torres picks up a loose ball, shoots softly towards Akinfeev.

28′ Zhirkov padding his highlight reel against Sergio “Hot As Balls” Ramos here.

27′ Beautiful ball from Iniesta to Villa who fires off of Akinfeev’s palms for a corner….nothing much doin’ there.

25′ Torres has another shot on goal saved. Quite a little game we’ve got here.

22′ Zyryanov off the post! End to end stuff here as Torres puts it just over Akinfeev.

David Villa goal:

20′ GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL. David Villa from Torres, who created the goal for him, pulling Akinfeev out.

Cue Spanish manpile.

19′ Spanish corner headed out, Russia with possession.

18′ Zhirkov makes another surging run by Puyol tackles well. He is absolute hell on Spain right now.

17′ Some beautiful buildup from Mother Russia here, final ball thwarted….Sychev beats the back line and the pass back into the center is popped wide by Semshov. That was 1-0 right there.

Have to say, Russia is looking very impressive.

14′ Iniesta’s cleverness stopped by Russia, who are tackling pretty well as a group right now.

13′ Zyryanov on the tackle, another Russian counter, though they slow the ball down and play for possession. The ESPN announcer just said the Russians are “dogged and determined”, which is code for “not very talented”.

11′ Russian counter….two poor balls put in by Pavlyuchenko. They had Spain on their back feet there.

9′ Villa played a ball over the defensive line and a hard touch forces him to put it high. Best chance for Spain yet.

8′ Fernando Torres creates a goal scoring chance all by his lonesome, scuffed it wide though. I swear, this guy is a one man attack.

7′ Tommy Smyth with his second insightful comment in two days: “Guus generally knows what he’s doing.” Yeah, no shit.

6′ Pavlyuchenko tries to slot in a ball to a surging Zhirkov, Puyol puts it out. Zhirkov is already proving his pace as real nuisance.

5′ Xavi free kick headed out of the box, Spain retain possession on the clearance again.

4′ Dangerous ball into the middle on a free kick, punched by Casillas, though it was bouncing lazily for a bit. Spain dodged one there.

3′ Little bit of back and forth here. Russia wins a free kick, Ramos cleans out for a throw in with Zhirkov speeding in.

1′ Fernando Torres touch numero uno. Have to say I like the sky view of the kickoff. Nice touch by whoever decides these things.

KICKOFF

- Well, Aragones is not worried about any type of criticism here. The man’s got some balls, that’s for sure.

Though you really can’t go wrong in picking anyone for Spain’s attack.

Lineups:

Russia:

1 Akinfeev;
22 Anyukov, 14 Shirokov, 8 Kolodin, 18 Zhirkov;
11 Sychev, 17 Zyryanov, 20 Semshov, 11 Semak, 15 Bilyaletdinov;
19 Pavlyuchenko.

Spain:

1 Casillas;
15 Sergio Ramos, 4 Marchena, 5 Puyol, 11 Capdevila;
21 Silva, 8 Xavi Hernandez, 19 Senna, 6 Iniesta.
7 Villa, 9 Torres.

No Cesc!