Euro08 coverage from Nabil Othman: Spain vs. Russia

By: Nabil Othman

Today soccer fans witnessed a match much different match than the semifinal between Germany and Turkey. The Spanish easily defeated Russia by a score of 3-0.

The match saw few chances for the Russians who had their hands full stopping a lethal Spanish attack led by Cesc Fabregas, who came on as a 34th minute substitute for an injured David Villa.

Until Fabregas entered the match, both sides were evenly matched in possession and shots. However this would not stay the same. From the 34th minute on the Spanish relentlessly attacked the Russians resulting in goals from Xavi Hernández, Daniel Güiza and David Silva. Fabregas assisted on Güiza and Silva’s strikes. He also fed the ball to Andrés Iniesta, who assisted on Spain’s first goal scored by Xavi Hernández.

This was an uncharacteristic game for the Russians, who up to this point in the tournament showed they could contend with the traditional soccer superpowers. Today they came out flat, and were outplayed. Even though Russia has a very youthful squad, none of the energy they displayed against Sweden and Holland was shown. Russia is in no way subordinate to the Spanish, the Spanish simply came to play; the Russians did not. Although Russian was eliminated, their semifinal finish is the best the national team has achieved since the fall of the USSR. They defeated Sweden, Holland and Greece: the winner of Euro04. Euro08 undoubtedlytaught the young Russian squad a very important lesson: victory is earned by the team which plays the best on the day of the match, not given based on past accomplishments.

The finals between Germany and Spain will be played on Sunday, June 29th at 2:30 on ESPN.