vagi@vagi

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★Jun 1

Spain were genuinely horrific The euro champions supposedly the best team on Earth getting completely bossed by a Paraguay 5-3-2 for 82 minutes Torres subbed off In a quarter-final then the absolute fever dream begins Cardozo earns a penalty Casillas SAVES it Seconds later Villa gets fouled Alonso scores RETAKEN for encroachment Villar saves THAT too Three penalties One goal Meanwhile Valdez had a first-half goal disallowed that looked very much onside but the linesman was screened Pedro hits the post Villa rebounds it hits BOTH posts goes in 83rd minute Then Casillas saves Barrios and physically blocks Santa Cruz off his own leg at the death SPAIN didn’t win this Casillas dragged them into their first ever World Cup semi since 1950 while the rest of them wandered around looking confused Paraguay were robbed of extra time minimum Narrative: 4 Tactics: 3 Chances: 3.5 Goals: 3 Drama: 4.5 3.5/5

Player of the match

Iker Fernández

Spain

mikhail@mikhail

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★Sep 14

What a funny game. Three pens, two saved, one disallowed, all in the span of two minutes. Beautiful ball movement from Spain as always, though they were wasteful with their chances (as always) and should have been better against an underdog Paraguay side. MOTM: Iker Casillas (#1). What a brilliant performance, saved everything Paraguay could throw at him. HMs to Piqué (so intelligent) and David Villa (what a player for Spain). POOR: Nelson Valdez (#18) and Fernando Torres (#9). Both national strikers just couldn’t get their foot in the game and were rightfully subbed off.

Player of the match

Iker Fernández

Spain