Euro 2004
qualifier
Spain 3 - Armenia 0
Spain: Casillas;
Michel Salgado, Iván Helguera, Marchena, Raúl Bravo; Albelda,
Xavi (Vicente 54'); Etxeberría (Joaquín 41'), Valerón
(Baraja 65'), Raúl; Diego Tristán. 4-2-3-1. Armenia:
Berezovsky; Melikyan, Hovsepyan, Vardanyan, Dokhoyan; Sarkisyan, Petrosyan
(Mkhitaryan 81'), Voskanyan, Khachatryan (Minasyan 84'); Artavazd, Karamyan.
4-4-2.
Goals: 1-0. 64. Diego
Tristán. Turned Vicente cross wide of Berezovsky on near post. 2-0.
69. Iván Helguera. Near post header down past keeper from Vicente
corner. 3-0. 92. Joaquín. Ran on to Raúl through ball to chip
keeper from edge of area.
Group 6 table:
Spain............... Played 4, points: 10 Greece............ Played
4, points: 6 Ukraine........... Played 4, points: 6 Armenia..........
Played 4, points: 4 N. Ireland........ Played 4, points: 1
From our international
correspondents Borja Pantzov and Goran Arsic.
Well here we are in the
capital of Castlla-León, the lion's castle so to speak. It's a bit of a
funny group this year, with so many new countries setting up all the time, and
we are not sure if we could find Armenia on the map, nor say what country it
was part of before. Let's face it, many people in Spain would like to do the
same, Cataluña, the Basque country, Gallicia etc., etc., and the only
thing that probably stops them is the thought that their local league seasons
would be pretty short. Er Cataluña first division, lets see, Barcelona v
Espanyol and that's about it. No matches against Real Madrid to get worked up
about unless they get drawn in the Champions League, but at least they would
qualify for the competition that way.
Anyway, treading on
dangerous ground there, so lets get on with the report. Actually Armenia could
be more of a problem than they look on paper. Everybody has assumed that we
will win, but they did well against Northern Ireland (who didn't though?), and
are a team who give everything. Our glorious manager has made a couple of
changes from the side he put out against the Ukraine, most notably playing with
the attack which finished off that game, Raúl, Diego Tristán and
Valerón. Iván Helguera is back too after a one match ban, and
Marchena keeps his place alongside him with Javi Navarro on the bench and
César in the stands.
There are some jeers for the
Israeli referee Alon Yefet who reported that Roberto Carlos hit him when he
sent him off in the game between Portugal and Brazil, but this is soon
forgotten as the match gets under way. Tristán and Raúl have a
go, but the best chance falls to Petrosyan who breaks through but shoots wide.
What a fright! And then Artavadz Karamyan gets a pass from Voskanyan but fails
to control the ball in front of goal (do all the names in Armenia end in yan?).
Things are not going to plan, and we suffer another blow when Etxeberría
limps off just before half time.
That means though that
Joaquín comes on, and soon after half time Vicente replaces Xavi. Now we
have two wingers who can do real damage, and it soon pays off as Vicente
crosses in from the left and Tristán is there to steer the ball into the
far corner of the net, his first goal for his country in ten games. A small
group of idiots light a flare, but the rest of fans boo them and they disappear
fairly quickly. That could have cost us a fine! Sáez makes his third and
final change, Baraja replacing a tired Valerón, and we keep up the
attack. Tristán's shot is saved by Berezovski (is he really Armenian
with a name like that), and from the next corner Iván Helguera meets
Vicente's kick with a near post header down in to the net.
It's all over, a hard
battle but we have won. Armenia's Argentina born player Bilibio is waiting to
come on in injury time (no doubt that he wasn't originally from Armenia), but
Raúl slides the ball through to Joaquín and he lifts the ball
over the keeper for his first goal for Spain. The bost moment of the match and
that makes things a bit better still, but it was not a great victory and we
leave the ground a bit deflated. The papers as usual say that Sáez made
a mistake playing the three attackers as they had no wingers. Funny, three days
ago they said he made a mistake for doing exactly the opposite. Some people are
never happy, but then that is what sells papers. We are well top of the group
though, and if we beat Greece in June we can already start looking for hotels
in Portugal. Goran's knees are still in a bad way so we are going home. See you
at the end of the month for the friendly with Ecuador, (if we can find it on
the map). |