Spanish happy with narrow victory, place in last four (Roundup)

By Brendon Hanley Jun 17, 2009, 17:32 GMT

Bloemfontein, South Africa - Tournament favourites and world's number one team Spain booked their place in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup with a 1-0 victory over a dogged Iraqi side in Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium.

Though the European champions dominated the match, they were only able to breach the packed Iraqi defence once, from David Villa's header in the 55th minute.

With two wins from two matches, the Spanish will now be able to rest key players ahead of their final Group A contest against hosts South Africa Saturday, while Iraq will try to add to their single point in their ultimate group match against New Zealand on the same day.

After the result, Iraq coach Bora Militunovic stressed that he was 'very, very happy' with his side's performance, no matter the defeat or their defensive tactics.

'It was very important that we not give up a lot of goals, and now we can go through with the right result on the last day,' he said. 'Spain is Spain. We have a lot of respect for them. I don't say perfect much, but I am so happy with how we played. It was a very intelligent and very disciplined performance from my players.'

Spain boss Vicente Del Bosque also had good words for the Asian champions

'They played with a lot of dignity and were smart,' said the 58-year-old boss. 'It's a valid way to play football. They knew their limits and made it a tough match for us.'

For their performance, the Spanish were happy despite the surprisingly narrow scoreline.

'It was a difficult contest,' revealed goalscorer Villa. 'But we got the three points and achieved our first goal, which was to reach the semi-finals. That's all that matters.'

The win was Spain's 14th on the trot, equalling the mark for the most consecutive victories by a national team - a record shared by Australia, Brazil and France. They have also now gone 34 matches without a defeat and are one match away from equalling Brazil's streak of 35.

Up against a five-man Iraqi backline, Spain had the lion's share of possession but had to wait until the 25th minute for their first clear goalscoring opportunity when a Sergio Ramos cross found Villa unmarked at the far post. However, the striker steered his volley into the side-netting.

Santi Cazorla fired narrowly wide from outside the area as Spain continued to press, while man of the match Xabi Alonso saw his shot shortly before the break easily saved by Iraq goalkeeper Mohammed Ali Kareem.

Spain resumed where they left off after the restart with Villa missing a glorious opportunity on 52 minutes, heading straight into the hands of the goalkeeper with the goal gaping.

But the Valencia striker made amends three minutes later, steering another header into the bottom left-hand corner after fine build-up work down the left by Juan Mata and Joan Capdevila.

Alonso could have extended Spain's lead three minutes later with a firmly struck strike from outside the area but his shot was well held by Kareem, who also had to be at his best to block Mate's effort 11 minutes from time.

In the closing stages, Ramos fired over and Fernando Torres almost found Mata unmarked in the area, but the Spanish fans had to go home satisfied with a single-goal victory.

Del Bosque was pleased in the end with his side's effort.

'We played by the book when you face a defensive team,' he said. 'We went down the wings more and had at least 10 good scoring opportunities, so the scoreline could have been bigger. But we did what we wanted to do.'

For his part, Milutinovic could not stop smiling, saying: 'It was a dream for my players to play against Spain and put in a performance like they did. They are proud, and I am proud of them.'