Spain 3-2 Chile - Del Bosque, Iniesta and Busquets highly self-critical of La Roja’s first-half display
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 Coach Vicente Del Bosque was highly critical of his team’s first-half display against Chile on Friday night in Geneva, as was Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.
In response to an entertaining game that saw the South Americans take a two-goal lead before the break and Spain battle back to record a 3-2 win, Del Bosque was initially only focused on the negative: “You can not play worse than that first half. We did pretty badly; our defensive work was poor and the team suffered greatly as a result. In the second half there was a huge change, with a different defensive attitude when playing in the attacking third.”
Iniesta complimented the opposition and repeated what his Coach said before giving his take on the mass brawl that prompted the referee to end the contest in stoppage time: “We faced an opponent who played very well in the first half and showed their level.
“Their approach broke up the continuity in our game, and force us to change in the second half. We reacted well, you can tell as the team pressed and worked together. It is very difficult for only two to press, only when the whole team does will they emerge victorious. The brawl portrayed how we are team.”
Busquets echoed Iniesta’s thoughts that the team lacked the right attitude in the first 45, admitting the team were surprised by Chile, and that the response was best reflected in the change in Spain’s possession stats after the break.
Chile’s Coach Claudio Borghi took a similar line to Cesc Fabregas in praising the impact Iniesta had in changing the game’s pattern: “The first half was very good, but maintaining that level of play against Spain, who made changes, is very difficult. Iniesta’s input was key, and I’m delighted to have participated in this game just to see him up close. He is the ‘easiest’ player I’ve seen in my life, and the most effective.”
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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