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SPAIN 4 ARMENIA 0
By Mike Perez
Sportinglife.co.za
Sept 11 2008
UK
Spain made it two World Cup qualifying wins out of two with a
comfortable victory over Armenia in Albacete.
Fresh from Saturday's 1-0 triumph over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Spain all
but ended this match as a contest after just 16 minutes following
goals from Joan Capdevila and David Villa.
Two late strikes from Villa and Marcos Senna then wrapped up the win
as the European champions made it 25 games without defeat and six in
succession without conceding a goal.
The Spanish quickly settled into their stride and it was no surprise
to see them open the scoring early on.
The hosts had already looked capable of breaking through a nervy
Armenia defence on a couple of occasions before Capdevila netted in
the seventh minute.
A short corner routine between Barcelona duo Xavi and Andres Iniesta
resulted in the latter playing a superb through-ball to Capdevila,
and the Villarreal left-back thundered his shot past Roman Berezovski
from seven yards out.
Even at that early stage it promised to be a long night for the Armenia
number one, and he was called into action four minutes later to keep
out Villa's long-range piledriver.
Villa was not to be denied in the 16th minute though as rampant Spain
doubled their lead.
Albacete-born Iniesta was his usual busy self and his marauding run
into the box earned Villa a shooting chance, the Valencia hitman coolly
curling his 20th international goal into the far corner of the net.
Armenia, who were only beaten 2-0 by Euro 2008 semi-finalists Turkey at
the weekend, must have feared the worst following those two early goals
but they settled into the game after that and Levon Pachajyan and Artur
Voskanyan both tried their luck with shots from the edge of the box.
Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas did not really have to break a sweat
with either of those, but Pachajyan made him earn his keep in the
26th minute with a low shot.
Despite those efforts, Spain were still dominating and Villa should
probably have been celebrating a first-half hat-trick after going
close three times in quick succession.
An entertaining opening period continued to see chances at both ends,
Voskanyan going close for the visitors, while Dani Guiza was only
denied Spain's third goal by a fine Berezovski stop.
Opportunities were much harder to come by in the second half,
with Iniesta seeing one of the few early chances for Spain saved
by Berezovski.
The European champions looked in cruise control though, and coach
Vicente del Bosque decided the time was right to give a debut to
Barcelona teenager Bojan Krkic, whose 68th-minute arrival was greeted
by a resounding ovation from the Carlos Belmonte crowd.
It was Villa who came closest to increasing Spain's lead though when,
in the 74th minute, he rounded Berezovski but then agonisingly saw
his shot hit the near post.
Villa made no mistake four minutes later though as he slotted home
Spain's third goal following a slick pass from Xabi Alonso.
That was Villa's third goal in four days, having also netted the
winner against Bosnia-Herzegovina, but it was not the end of the
scoring with Senna lashing in a speculative 30-yarder in the closing
stages to complete the rout.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Mike Perez
Sportinglife.co.za
Sept 11 2008
UK
Spain made it two World Cup qualifying wins out of two with a
comfortable victory over Armenia in Albacete.
Fresh from Saturday's 1-0 triumph over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Spain all
but ended this match as a contest after just 16 minutes following
goals from Joan Capdevila and David Villa.
Two late strikes from Villa and Marcos Senna then wrapped up the win
as the European champions made it 25 games without defeat and six in
succession without conceding a goal.
The Spanish quickly settled into their stride and it was no surprise
to see them open the scoring early on.
The hosts had already looked capable of breaking through a nervy
Armenia defence on a couple of occasions before Capdevila netted in
the seventh minute.
A short corner routine between Barcelona duo Xavi and Andres Iniesta
resulted in the latter playing a superb through-ball to Capdevila,
and the Villarreal left-back thundered his shot past Roman Berezovski
from seven yards out.
Even at that early stage it promised to be a long night for the Armenia
number one, and he was called into action four minutes later to keep
out Villa's long-range piledriver.
Villa was not to be denied in the 16th minute though as rampant Spain
doubled their lead.
Albacete-born Iniesta was his usual busy self and his marauding run
into the box earned Villa a shooting chance, the Valencia hitman coolly
curling his 20th international goal into the far corner of the net.
Armenia, who were only beaten 2-0 by Euro 2008 semi-finalists Turkey at
the weekend, must have feared the worst following those two early goals
but they settled into the game after that and Levon Pachajyan and Artur
Voskanyan both tried their luck with shots from the edge of the box.
Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas did not really have to break a sweat
with either of those, but Pachajyan made him earn his keep in the
26th minute with a low shot.
Despite those efforts, Spain were still dominating and Villa should
probably have been celebrating a first-half hat-trick after going
close three times in quick succession.
An entertaining opening period continued to see chances at both ends,
Voskanyan going close for the visitors, while Dani Guiza was only
denied Spain's third goal by a fine Berezovski stop.
Opportunities were much harder to come by in the second half,
with Iniesta seeing one of the few early chances for Spain saved
by Berezovski.
The European champions looked in cruise control though, and coach
Vicente del Bosque decided the time was right to give a debut to
Barcelona teenager Bojan Krkic, whose 68th-minute arrival was greeted
by a resounding ovation from the Carlos Belmonte crowd.
It was Villa who came closest to increasing Spain's lead though when,
in the 74th minute, he rounded Berezovski but then agonisingly saw
his shot hit the near post.
Villa made no mistake four minutes later though as he slotted home
Spain's third goal following a slick pass from Xabi Alonso.
That was Villa's third goal in four days, having also netted the
winner against Bosnia-Herzegovina, but it was not the end of the
scoring with Senna lashing in a speculative 30-yarder in the closing
stages to complete the rout.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress