The 2010 FIFA World Cup Thread #2/Sports Thread #2 For 6/16/10: Stoic Swiss Cause The Tournament's Biggest Shocker, Defeats Co-Favorites Spain For 1st Time Ever
Fernandes, the goal scoring hero of many heros for Switzerland today (Photo from Getty Images and FIFA.com)The Final STUNNING ANALYSIS:
WOW, WOW, WOW.
Let's just say first that Vincent Del Bosque will feel a lot of heat, a hell of a lot of heat. More heat than even Robert Green for England. He was simply and badly outcoached by Ottmar Hitzfield, who got his tactics perfectly right.
Of course, that was helped by the fact that del bosque, instead of doing what Luis Aragones did in Euro 08 and keep Villa and Torres in the starting lineup, decided to just have Villa up front alone. You simply don't get the best of David Villa when he's alone up front, especially when it is against a tactically sound defensive like the Swiss.
And Torres just doesn't come off the bench well. He is a forward who needs his touches to get into the match, and that is quite difficult to do when you are coming in at the 60 minute when your co-favorite team Spain is down 1-0 with the pressure mounting. It clearly showed with how his touch constantly let him do today.
And speaking of letting down, Xavi Alonso just had nothing today at all for Spain, and del Bosque will be pressed to take him out and put Torres right in. Sometimes having a lot of great players can be a headache for a coach, and that clearly showed for Spain today.
No excuse though, an absolute dreadful result from Spain that puts all the pressure on them and their destiny in this group out of their hands.
Remember, as Nate Silver so wisely points out here just to remind, Group F and H are linked with each other in the Round of 16. And that means the two co-favorites, instead of seeing each other in the Final, will possibly meet each other in the first knockout stage.
That last scenario speaks to the many elements making this one of the massive results in World Cup history in my mind.
And it without question a historic moment for the country of Switzerland. For the 1st time ever in 18 attempts, they have defeated their shocking "conquerees" today in marvelous fashion, making their record now against Espana a now better looking 1-17-2.
The whole team, from terrific youngsters Eren Derdiyok and Gokhan Inler to the masterclass defending of Stephan Lichtsteiner, and sound hands of the Bundesliga's best young keeper Giego Benaglio, full plaudits to the Swiss, showing how their golden age is trying to make the pain of getting bounced out in the group stages of hosting Euro 2008 be avenged. What a way to do just that.
Man of the Match, even though all of them are the man of the match:
The full review of an enjoyable shocker like none other at this World Cup .
Group H's stunning current standings:
Switzerland 3 (+1)
Chile 3 (+1)
Honduras 0 (-1)
Spain 0 (-1)
The full match archive of a historic folks:
The 1st half Analysis:
Photo from Getty Images and Fifa.comLineups:
Spain: Casillas, Pique, Puyol, Iniesta, Villa, Xavi, Capdevila, Alonso, Ramos, Sergio, Silva
Switzerland:Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, Senderos, Huggel, Barnetta, Inler, Nkufo, Grichting, Fernandes, Ziegler, Derdiyok
Well, as expected, Spain dominated possession. Switzerland without Behrami, Frei, and now Senderos, played defense and absorbed any onslaught that they saw, despite Pique having a fine chance that Benaglio did well to save as he does for Wolfsburg.
Simply for me though, Vincente Del Bosque has got to play Fernando Torres with David Villa. Drop Busquets to the bench and bring on Torres. It will simply give them more width on the left with the dominance they have in the middle and the width they have on the right with Ramos going forward occasionally.
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