Villa leads Spain into semi-finals

David Villa’s goal set up a World Cup semi-final against Germany to be played on Wednesday as Spain beat Paraguay 1-0 while Netherlands take on Uruguay in the other semi-final tomorrow. Villa, who now has five goals in the tournament, struck the winner seven minutes from the end of what had been a disjointed quarter-final performance from the fancied Spaniards in a game that saw both goal-keepers save second-half penalties.

“It feels good to be in the semi-finals, but we know it’ll mean nothing if we don’t reach the final,” said Cesc Fabregas, who came on for the out-of-form Fernando Torres in the second half.

“We watched Germany beat Argentina and they played very well. They are one of the best teams in this tournament. We will have to play our very best to be able to beat them.”

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque thought that there was room for improvement. “We didn’t play well mainly because we didn’t get enough of the ball,” said Del Bosque.

“We are now amongst the four best teams in the world. Our next opponents are Germany who are the best team at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino said his side paid the price for not taking the opportunities which came their way. “We had chances but didn’t take them. But never mind. I congratulate my players for their progress at the World Cup,” said Martino. AFP

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2010.