World Cup: Match 48 - Spain vs. Chile

I was hoping for the upset, simply because it would have been funny to watch the favorites go out in the group stage, but in the end I am glad that Spain found their feet and were able to score goals against Chile, whose defense is nowhere near as good as the Swiss's. The first goal, even if it came on a mistake by the goalkeeper, was a real beauty, and though David Villa made it look easy, it certainly wasn't.

The goal was set in motion by a possible breakaway pass for Fernando Torres. Although Torres has shown nothing of the power and talent he demonstrated in the final of Euro 2008, Chile still seemed very afraid of him, afraid enough that their goalie came sprinting out to meet the ball. But instead of pounding it high into the stands, he slide tackled it weakly, straight to onrushing David Villa, who was lethal at 45 yards against the helpless, unprotected Chilean goal. His one-time shot curved majestically into the back right corner of the net (24').

Spain also earned a very pretty goal in the 37th minute when Iniesta one-timed it sweetly past his defender and the keeper. It wasn't a hard shot at all, just pure finesse, pure Iniesta, pure Spain.

Despite having a player ejected in the very same play, they stunned Spain with a goal right after the break, a goal that said, for those of you watching (Brazil), we are not afraid! I would add Chile to my list of teams with heart, but the last 20 minutes of the game proved otherwise, as both teams seemed perfectly content to ride the game out with a 2-1 result. It's the type of playing you hope never to see in a World Cup game, both teams just wasting time, but the Group Stage was old and tired, and there was nothing left for it to give in its dying breaths.

Spain = Barcelona (#1 La Liga) + Real Madrid (#2 La Liga) - Messi (#1 scorer La Liga) - Ronaldo (#2 scorer La Liga). And that's definitely what they're missing: creative scorers. David Villa is good, but Messi and Ronaldo are on a whole different level. I think it took Spain a couple games to realize they weren't just Barcelona + Real Madrid, that they couldn't just mesmerize the other team and sneak Messi in or count on Ronaldo to score off a free kick or win a penalty with his excellent diving. It will be amusing to watch the Real Madrid squad face their best player against Portugal and--if Spain make it so far--the Barcelona squad face their best player against Argentina. I just hope they don't pass them the ball by accident...