Spain 3-2 Chile: Del Bosque's men battle back in entertaining but fiery friendly
Saturday 03 September 2011
   Stade de Genève, Switzerland
Iniesta 55, Fabregas 71, 90 - Isla 11, Vargas 20
Fabregas missed penalty 90 - Contreras sent off 82
Spain came from two goals behind to beat Chile in a lively friendly match on Friday in St. Gallen, Switzerland. A combination of good fortune and a much improved second half showing helped secure victory for the World champions.
Spain, who recently lost their number one spot in the controversial FIFA ranking system, looked to be heading for a second straight defeat after a lacklustre first half performance in which they conceded far too much possession to the creative South American side.
The experimental centre back pairing of Javi Martinez and Raul Albiol were over-run by the pace of the Chilean attack with Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez and 21-year-old Eduardo Vargas in particular, causing trouble for the Spanish defenders. It only took 10 minutes for Chile to open the scoring after Mauricio Isla latched onto an incredible pass from Valdivia and finished superbly to make it 1-0.
Vargas scored the second after a through ball from Sanchez left him one on one against keeper Iker Casillas; the young striker proceeded to calmly round the Real Madrid man and leave himself an easy finish.
The Chilean Coach, Claudio Daniel Borghi, had a clear game plan for his team and in the first half they completely nullified the creativity of the Spanish midfield. Xavi, making his 102nd appearance and equalling Raul’s record as Spain’s most capped outfield player, struggled to make an impact as the South Americans played a high defensive line and crowded the midfield. They played with a high tempo from the outset and totally dominated the first 45 minutes.
At half time, Coach Vicente del Bosque made some changes that transformed Spain’s fortunes. The removal of Alonso and David Villa for Andres Iniesta and Pedro gave La Furia Roja a more attacking edge and suddenly it was the European team in the ascendency. It came as no surprise when Iniesta pulled a goal back on 59 minutes and further changes saw the introduction of Barcelona new-boy Cesc Fabregas, who wasted no time in getting on the score-sheet after a smart pass from Iniesta.
Chile were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute after Pablo Contreras was dismissed for a tackle on Santi Cazorla and they lost yet another player after Valdivia saw red for protesting the late penalty that eventually led to their defeat. Alvaro Arbeloa appeared to dive to win the penalty from which Fabregas scored after his initial shot re-bounded off keeper Claudio Bravo. The incident sparked some unpleasant exchanges between the teams just before the final whistle.
In the end the result was harsh on Chile but the resilience and team spirit of the Spanish team saw them through and they showed no signs of being affected by the recent friction that has plagued the matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Spain (4-3-3): Casillas (Reina 45); Arbeloa, Martinez, Albiol, Ramos; Busquets, Alonso (Iniesta 45), Xavi; (Fabregas 64) Villa (Pedro 45), Negredo (Torres 64), Silva (Cazorla 80)
Chile (3-4-3): Bravo; Contreras, Vidal, Jara; Isla (Meneses 85), Carmona, Medel, Beausejour (Gutierrez 80); Vargas (Seymour 57), Valdivia (Orellana 86), Alexis Sanchez
Did you know…Spain came back from 2 goal down vs Chile (3-2) for third time: vs England in 1929 and Macedonia in 2009 [via @2010MisterChip]
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