Spain deservedly booked their place in the World Cup quarter finals after a 1-0 win over Iberian neighbours Portugal.
Going into this match Spain had won 29 of their last 31 matches. Portugal themselves were on a 19 match unbeaten run.
As well as being a clash between two of the world’s most in-form teams, it featured some of the best players in the world, such as David Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It was expected to be an excellent match. In the end, however, it ended up being something of a dead rubber.
It was easy to see how Portugal hadn’t conceded in their previous eight matches, as they defended deeply and left Spain have most of the possession.
Their strategy was to stop Spain from scoring (rather than to attack themselves) and it worked for the first hour, although they had their goalkeeper Eduardo to thank on a couple of occasions.
Spain finally broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute, when David Villa scored from a rebound, following a save from Eduardo.
For the rest of match, Portugal didn’t create many opportunities, and even had Ricardo Costa sent off in the last minute for an elbow to Joan Capdevila.
Spain will now play Paraguay in the quarter finals.
