World Cup 2010 - Puyol puts Spain in final
Spain reached the World Cup final for the first time after the European champions ground out a 1-0 victory over Germany at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
For all of Spain's short passing, the winner came from a set-piece, with defender Carles Puyol powering an unstoppable header from Xavi’s corner past Manuel Neuer with 17 minutes remaining.
Vicente del Bosque’s side will face the Netherlands in Sunday’s final, meaning this year’s winners will claim a maiden World Cup triumph.
It was an intriguing, tight game that played to type, with Spain having more possession and Germany looking for the counter attack.
But with both sides as well-organised in defence as they are exciting in attack, chances were few and far between, although by the end, Spain had enjoyed the greater number of opportunities.
Spain had two early chances, with David Villa denied by Neuer after Pedro slid him through, before Puyol headed over from close range after a short-corner routine allowed Andres Iniesta to pick his cross.
Barcelona winger Pedro - given his first international start in place of the misfiring Fernando Torres - was Spain’s focal point, but as the half progressed Germany found their range.
Mesut Ozil was denied a clear sight at goal by an errant offside flag, while the Werder Bremen playmaker was left howling in frustration as a wayward flick-on by Lukas Podolski stopped him from running through.
Spain keeper Iker Casillas was looking nervous at corners, flapping horribly at deliveries from Ozil and Piotr Trochowski.
Trochowski, in for the suspended Thomas Mueller, put in a superb low drive that allowed Casillas to showcase his true skill in shot-stopping as Germany began to look the more likely.
Spain were toiling for the perfect goal, and almost paid the penalty when - in first-half stoppage-time - Sergio Ramos appeared to foul Ozil, although replays hinted any infringement took place fractionally outside the box.
In the second half Spain had a couple of early half-chances but both were from long range as Xabi Alonso and Villa drilled well wide of the right-hand post.
Things came alive just before the hour mark though when a succession of Spain chances opened up the game.
Alonso started to occupy a more advanced role, and his preference for a direct pass gave Spain more threat.
The Real Madrid midfielder initiated two chances within seconds, first by driving forward to allow Pedro to drill a shot that was batted out by Neuer and - on the rebound - spinning into the box with a superb drag-back to find Iniesta, whose cross-shot was inches away from conversion by the sliding Villa at the far post.
Podolski had a half-chance with an overhead kick when Marcel Jansen’s cross was deflected his way by Ramos, but it was all Spain as La Furia Roja’s possession started to tell.
Another Alonso ball capped off a passing move but Ramos was put off by a last-gasp tackle from Podolski, who had tracked him all the way from his left-wing position.
Germany had a glorious chance to take the lead when 20-year-old substitute Toni Kroos fired weakly at Casillas after he was picked out by a superb Podolski cross: four minutes later Spain were ahead.
Ironically it came from old-fashioned high corner aimed at the penalty spot, with Puyol leaping well beyond his limited height should allow to hammer a header beyond Neuer.
Joachim Loew’s young charges were forced to attack and the tables were turned on them for once in this tournament: as they committed men forward, the Spaniards hit them on the break and spurned two chances to make it 2-0.
Pedro somehow contrived to fall when he and David Silva were two-on-one against Arne Friedrich; while Torres - who came on as a late sub for the quiet Villa - did exactly the same with three minutes left.
As the clock ticked down Spain did what they do so well, holding on to the ball and taking the sting out of the game as Germany threw defenders up front in vain.
Having never before got to the quarter-final stage, Spain again showed that this team is made of sterner stuff to set up a historic final against their fellow nearly-men the Netherlands.
Match facts:
Germany v Spain
Goals 0-1
1st Half Goals 0-0
Shots on Target 2-5
Shots off Target 2-10
Blocked Shots 2-1
Corners 6-7
Fouls 9-7
Offsides 2-1
Yellow Cards 0-0
Red Cards 0-0
Passing Success 82%-87.6%
Tackles 31-11
Tackles Success 74.2%-90.9%
Possession 43.3%-56.7%
Territorial Advantage 41.7%-58.3%
Comment 220 - 239 of 239
2008 European Championships: Spain 1:0 Germany
2010 World Cup Semi-Finals: Spain 1:0 Germany
Same result, same performance! "Death by a Thousand Passes!!"
Nope. What's up with your name? You don't even sound German LOL.
Nope it doesn't count.
lol hi finals do count when you have won three again how many have spain or holland won.................ZERO!
NOW HI SHUT IT
Lol number of finals reached means nothing if you don't win...
YOU BAWBAGS KNOCKING GERMANY. LOOK AT THE STATS THEY ARE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL NATION OVERALL IN WORLD CUP HISTORY----7 FINALS, 11 STRAIGHT QUARTER FINALS. BIG DEAL ABOUT SPAIN WHAT ELSE HAVE THEY DONE BUT CONSISTANTLY CHOKE AT MAJOR TOURNAMENTS. TALK ABOUT NEGATIVE FOOTBALL SPAIN AND ITALY ARE THE MASTERS AT THAT. ENJOY YOUR WEE BIT OF GLORY SPAIN BECAUSE THIS GERMAN TEAM WILL DOMINATE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS AT LEAST. OH YEAH WERE WAS VILLA IN THE GAME. I ONLY HEARD HIS NAME MENTIONED WHEN HE WAS SUBBED.
Well done Spain,you deserve to win,i think was a good game and Spain play very good and Puyol gol was a great gol.Spain played better than Germany and will see what happen in the final,everything is possible and Spain have a good chance to win,why not?.
A lot of people was saying that Spain will loose yesterday,that Germany will beat them for sure ,and things don'y worked that way,then will see.
Good luck Spain i'm with you 100% and really hope you'll win.
go spain
YOU BAWBAGS KNOCKING GERMANY. LOOK AT THE STATS THEY ARE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL NATION OVERALL IN WORLD CUP HISTORY----7 FINALS, 11 STRAIGHT SEMIS. BIG DEAL ABOUT SPAIN WHAT ELSE HAVE THEY DONE BUT CONSISTANTLY CHOKE AT MAJOR TOURNAMENTS. TALK ABOUT NEGATIVE FOOTBALL SPAIN AND ITALY ARE THE MASTERS AT THAT. ENJOY YOUR WEE BIT OF GLORY SPAIN BECAUSE THIS GERMAN TEAM WILL DOMINATE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS AT LEAST. OH YEAH WERE WAS VILLA IN THE GAME. I ONLY HEARD HIS NAME MENTIONED WHEN HE WAS SUBBED.
Germany were completely outplayed and outclassed by a vastly superior side, which is also supported by the match facts. Possession and territorial advantage almost 60-40 wow. Tackles success, shots on target, chances etc. I could go on all day. However for me Germany are still in the top tier of footballing nations along with Spain, Brazil and Holland. England are still a third rate team (and I support them).
spain = boring cu.nts, nobody wants to c 1 - 0 victories every f.ucking match!
Germany needs to revive their machine. It was dead yesterday. The spaniards realised that Germany is too good at counter and they made it difficult for them by passing, caressing and holding the ball for too long so that Germany were totally incarcerated. Lowh should be allowed to continue. He has done a great job with the youthful boys. Very unlucky guys. If there is any achievement Germany has recorded at the WC2010, its their famous victories over old enermies, Argentina and England. They turned merciless messi to merciful messi and cost Maradona his job. Germany please please revive your usual machine and see you in RIO DE JANAIRO 2014.
World Cup 2010 - Puyol puts Germany in final
Wed 07 Jul 08:20PM UTC------must be done by a german....supporter...
Well done Spain. They deserved the victory by all standard. I was so happy that a country that has not won it before will win it. Honestly, it is difficult to predict the next WC winner between Holland and Spain. It is going to be an interesting match. It would take a moment from brilliance from one of the players to win the match. From spain, we have three match winners; XAVI, INIESTA and VILLA. From Holland we have SCHENEIDER, ROBBEN, VAN BOMMEL. A non european should be the referee. For south africa, they have really done well in terms of hosting. The biggest flop of the tournament is FRANCE followed by ENGLAND.
Thought spain won so why are GERMANY in the final
Well done Spain. As entertaining as Germany were; who wants the boring regulars winning everything. It worse than watching Man Utd & Chelsea in the prem and Celtic & Rangers in the Scottish league. At last a final where we can't predict the outcome. Rankings say Spain but Holland have not lost a game all through the qualifiers and the competition. Plus both teams have yet to hit top gear; it should be a fantastic game on Sunday.
@ I no dey lie! E no finish o!. I feel sad for you. you cannot accept defeat. You are type of person who don't even watched any match and just come here to tell us how big a loser you are. Germany clearly outplayed England and Argentina. Even England would have given that second goal they could not have stopped Germans from scoring 2 more. Rather then accepting that England cannot play as a team despite having good individuals you try to find referring mistakes to make excuses for your team (and economy).
They didn't played well yesterday and they accepted it, unlike you guys who try to find excuses rather then figuring out the mistakes you made and correcting them
@#271
Shut up Gerard, you plonker, 'True German ancestry' indeed!!
What about the black English players? Or those players with Scot, Welsh, Irish etc blood who play for England?
The English themselves are basically a Germanic tribe who came to the British Isles so it's a bit rich talking of 'pureness'
Puyol puts Germany in final please yahoo double check things before you post them
To blogger King1690Billy:
I should add that in my Time Zone the World Cup Final is on 12th July (broadcast on live on TV at 01:30am)
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