Spain advances on goal by Villa
David Villa called it one of his best goals. He was talking about the timing but the effort was pretty nice, too.
David Villa called it one of his best goals. He was talking about the timing but the effort was pretty nice, too.
On a night when Portugal's defense fought off attack after attack, the Spanish striker finally broke through in the 63rd minute, giving the European champs a 1-0 victory yesterday in Cape Town, and a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals.
Villa took Xavi Hernandez' heel pass and struck a leftfooted shot that was saved by Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo. He then fired the rebound with his right foot off the underside of the crossbar and into the net - his fourth goal of Spain's five scored during the tournament - sprinted to the near corner and slid on his knees to the flag, letting out a mighty yell.
"It was one of my best goals because it got us through to the next round," Villa said. "Keep scoring so we can keep going."
Spain will play Paraguay in a quarterfinal game on Saturday.
While Villa is tied for the lead in scoring at the World Cup, it was a disappointing tournament for Cristiano Ronaldo, the world's most expensive player. The Real Madrid star's only goal came late in Portugal's 7-0 rout of North Korea in group play, and he had a quiet night against Spain.
His best attempt came from a free kick in the 28th minute when he launched the ball from 35 yards with such a dipping swerve that all Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas could do was block it with his body and see the ball bounce free.
Otherwise, Portugal could rely little on its captain. As he was pointing left and right where his teammates should go, he often walked.
This was 33rd time the Iberian neighbors have met in soccer, but the first time in the World Cup. Spain has won 16 of the matches to Portugal's five.
"To lose by one goal in a championship hurts very badly," Eduardo said.
In another game:
* At Pretoria, Paraguay took the most difficult route to its first World Cup quarterfinal. After 120 exhausting minutes without scoring, the Paraguayans found their touch in penalty kicks, making all five to beat Japan, 1-0.
Oscar Cardozo clinched the 5-3 shootout win with a low leftfooted drive past Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. The only miss in the shootout was by Japan defender Yuichi Komano on the third try when he hit the crossbar.
The Paraguayans became the fourth South American team into the final eight. Only Chile fell short, and it lost to Brazil in the second round.
Noteworthy
* Argentina coach Diego Maradona is highly superstitious, and has found out that one of his routines before a match is no longer allowed in South Africa.
No matter how far away the matches have been, he's insisted on holding day-before news conferences at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. But the stadium closed for the World Cup after yesterday's match between Paraguay and Japan. So Friday's news conference will have to be in Cape Town on the eve of the Germany match.
Among his other idiosyncracies: Before each game Maradona has come onto the field wearing a tracksuit only to later emerge from the tunnel in a gray suit for the game. Straight after the match, it's back into his tracksuit for the press conference. He also insists on holding rosary beads in his hand during the game, and he won't switch from one field to another at Argentina's training camp without making a sign of the cross.