Euro 2008 LIVEBLOG: Spain vs Sweden

GROUP D	June 14, 1800 CET, Innsbruck (Austria)
Spain 2 VS Sweden 1 Torres 14′ Villa 90+   Ibrahimovic 33′

FULL-TIME Spain wins it 2-1 right at the end. Not very convincing, but more proof that Villa and Torres are deadly.

Wonder if Lagerback is thinking he should have risked another 45 of Zlatan?

He just added another million euros to his price tag. Ran onto a through ball, think he megged Hansson on the way and slipped it under Isaksson.

90+ GOAL! Villa wins it. 2-1.

90′ Three added minutes. What was Marchena doing there? Held possession in the middle of his own box for an uncomfortably long period of time before launching a rubbish clearance out of play.

89′ I’ll be honest, I’m ready for this to be over. Spain have been a bit timid for my liking this half.

87′ Spain possess a while, Torres shoots from edge of box. Never really looked like going in.

Kallstrom has come on for Henrik Larsson

83′ Sweden seem to be playing 8-1-1 and Spain having trouble breaking it down.

Crowd are singing that White Stripes song. Spain possessing, but not going anywhere. That’s the trouble with having no real wide players. Sometimes there’s nowhere to go.

Image of airborne Ramos:

79′ Marchena takes command at the back, coming across with a sharp header.

78′ Elmander off, Sebastian Larsson on.

77′ Elmander wins a free kick. Seems like every foul has involved him in some way.

- I had Spain up there with Portugal and the Netherlands before this game. Don’t see it now though.

71′ Great dribbling from Silva, rubbish through ball though. Still, he must be looking at a move away from Valencia, no?

67′ Senna dances through defenders and hits a nice long range shot. Isaksson stretches himself out to tip it wide. He still remembers how to make saves after that blow to the head. But he thinks it’s 1987.

63′ Isaksson saves twice, first from Silva, then up close from Villa. Looks like Villa caught him on the face though. Ouch.

62′ Ljungeberg back on after some sort of problem with his boots. Maybe he doesn’t know how to tie laces? He is a model, after all.

61′ Torres opened a gap with some footwork, but not one big enough to shoot through.

60′ Games gone a bit flat. Boo.

57′ Spanish subs – Xavi off, Fabregas on. Little mid for little mid. Iniesta off, Cazorla on.

54′ Svensson gets a card the same colour as his shirt. And his hair.

52′ Marchena gets some Spanish vengeance on Elmander for the non-penalty foul in the box on Silva.

- That says to me that Sweden will take a draw / sacrifice this game and save Zlatan for the last game againts Russia. Risky.

- ITV reporting that Sweden say they’re anxious about his knee and so only wanted him to play 45 today. Interesting.

- That word is via ESPN2 though, so who knows.

- Word is that Ibrahimovic’s knee injury is playing up.

46′ Strange change at HT. Zlatan off, Rosenberg on. My guess is injury, but do you think maybe LL thought he wasn’t working hard enough?

45′ Second half is underway

HALF-TIME Looks like the ref is learning some Spanish curse words as he leaves the field.

45′ Penalty? No? Elmander clattered Silva in the box, looked nasty. But ref says no. La Furia Roja are furious with the ref.

43′ Good pass and move from Sweden, but Marchena cuts out the cross. Swedish tails are up.

Video of Zlatan goal posted below. Casillas will be disappointed.

Ha. Nice.

Chris just sent me a pic of “Swedish hotties”. But his use of quotation marks suggests sarcasm. I’m inserting it sight unseen:

38′ Ramos got the better of Zlatan there, but he should have done better for the goal.

37′ Mellberg with a piss-poor clearance but Villa hits it straight to Isaksson.

- Video of Torres goal added below.

- Zlatan Ibrahimovic brought a cross down with his back to goal and managed to slowly turn around, past Ramos and fire low into the corner. Casillas got a hand to it, but it still trickled over the line.

33′ GOAL!! Zlatan – 1-1

31′ Larsson fouls Ramos going for a high ball. Actually he fouled Ramos AND Albiol. He gives the ref a smile and a thumbs up to acknowledge the decision. Classy touch.

27′ Great little Zidane-spin from Sergio Ramos as Spain break, but ruins it with a dive further up the field.

23′ Spanish hair quotient drops dramatically as Puyol comes off injured and is replaced by Albiol.

21′ Zlatan finds Larsson with a beaut of a through ball, but Larsson knocks it over as he turn. Three or four years ago the net would likeley have bulged. Just saying.

19′ Skills form Iniesta to turn at the top of the box. Nothing came of it, but nice too watch. The fact that Iniesta was so central proves that Spain’s formation isn’t really 4-4-2 in the trad sense with wingers.

18′ Spain playing keepaway, crowd whistling.

16′ Elmander with a chance to do a Panucci and reply straight away. But he shot from too narrow of an angle. You get nothing for side netting Johan, sorry.

- Great work from Spain. A short corner to Villa, who cut it back to Silva, who chipped up for Torres to knock home. Great team pile on afterwards too (image below) Spain made that look too easy (the goal, not the manpile)

14′ 1-0 Torres

11′ Svensson’s wasn’t such a well timed tackle, and Xavi was down for a while. Think he’s ok now though.

10′ Great slide tackle from Hansson to beat Ramos to a ball. Punishments for mistimed tackles are harsh these days, so you have to appreciate a well timed slide tackle.

8′ Sweden break but Freddie Ljungberg sent Casillas an email marked “re: I’m going to shoot” before pulling the trigger. Casillas gathers easily.

7′ Great play from Sergio Rmaos there. He not only cut out a high Swedish ball, he brought it down while jumping through the air and played it out of defence. The man is class. But he needs a haircut.

6′ Silva overestimates Villa’s pace a bit with a ball down the line. He’s quick but he’s not Hiro Nakamura.

4′ I still can’t quite believe Larsson’s here. Think we’ll see him in 2010? He seems to have hit on a great scheme of “retiring” while qualifiers are on, then miraculously coming back when the big tournaments are on. Genius really.

3′ Ibrahimovic flicks it to no one. Not a great start from the big fella. Not that that means anything, he could still unleash something from nothing at any second.

2′ David Villa chasing round like a madman, putting Swedish defenders under pressure.

1′ Sweden with a half chance straight away. Zlatan took it on his chest and looked in for a second. Didn’t quite bring it down though.

0′ We’re off.

Zlatan’s might have more skillz than Olof Mellberg, but he can’t match him for facial hair. Olof has a full-on man-beard while Zlatan has some rather depressing face whiskers.

-15 minutes to kickoff. I’m predicting a win for Spain. Not a big win, but a win. Let’s go 2-0 to Spain.

-25 minutes to kick-off. I’m watching this on ITV, but will try not to complain too much.

They’re showing highlights of Spain David Villa vs Russia. I hope the Swedish defenders aren’t watching.

Here are the lineups:

Spain: 4-4-2: Casillas, Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila, Xavi, Silva, Senna, Iniesta, Villa, Torres.

Sweden: 4-3-3: Isaksson, Stoor, Nilsson, Mellberg, Hansson, Svensson, Ljungberg, D Andersson, H Larsson, Ibrahimovic, Elmander.

Spain put out the exact same 4-4-2 team that made Guus Hiddink cry.

Sweden switch from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 after losing their entire right side (Alexandersson and Wilhelmsson) to some sort of right footed plague. Johan Elmander (bargain on some old Championship Manager games) has been brought in as the third striker, so Sweden should have plenty to offer in attack.

Hallo there. It’s Spain vs Sweden, the two victorious teams from Group D. David “hat-trick” Villa and the rest of the Spanish talent, versus the man they call Zlatan. Should be decent.