Full time: Spain 1-0 Czech Republic
A typical Spain victory: loads of possession, only one goal. The match would have been forgettable but for a performance from Andres Iniesta that was, in terms of technique, as close to perfection as you will ever see. He really was that good. Thanks for your company; bye!
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90+2 min The Czechs almost equalise in added time! A cross from the left came back to Darida, who flicked it up 12 yards out and smashed a volley towards goal. It was too close to De Gea, who punched it away dramatically.
90 min There will be three added minutes.
89 min Rosicky off, Pavelka on for the Czechs. They have worked so hard, especially the defensive players, but it would have been a scandal if Iniesta hadn’t won this game.
GOAL! Spain 1-0 Czech Republic (Pique 87)
Spain lead at the last. This preposterous little genius Iniesta, lurking on the left of the box after a half-cleared corner, coaxes a wonderful dipping cross in between defenders and the goalkeeper, and Pique cushions a well-placed header into the corner from a few yards.
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87 min Sural replaces Gebre Selassie for the Czechia Republic.
86 min “Is the emerging theme of the first weekend one of a strange lack of ruthlessness up front?” says David Hopkins. “Several teams have had the dominance to win comfortably, but almost/actually missed out through failing to turn it into goals - Switzerland, England, Croatia and now possibly Spain.”
Like Arsene Wenger said, all the best strikers are South American.
84 min Iniesta isn’t running the show; he is the show. He’s seen Kroos’s performance last night and raised it. Another delicious through pass finds Pedro on the left of the box, and Kaderabek does very well to concede a corner.
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82 min Spain’s last substitution: Pedro on, Nolito off.
81 min “Have no geopolitically correct Guardinistas taken issue with your use of the hopelessly outdated moniker ‘Czech Republic’?!” says Peter Oh. It’s ‘Czechia’ now.”
I just follow they Guardian Style Guide.
80 min Krejci makes a glorious challenge to deny Thiago! He was played through by Nolito and was lining up a shot from eight yards when Krejci appeared on his blindside and snaked a leg round to poke the ball away.
79 min A chance for Aduriz, who rises superbly above Sivok to meet Ramos’s cross but then heads it wide.
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77 min Aduriz’s spectacular scissor-kick, from Juanfran’s cross, goes a few yards wide. It wasn’t much of a chance.
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76 min The first Czech substitution: Necid off, Lafata on.
75 min An exquisite turn from Iniesta, who then plays it to Nolito in the D. He miscontrols it. Iniesta has played almost as well as is humanly possible in this game.
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73 min Lovely play from Spain. Nolito’s cross, Aduriz’s cushioned volley, Iniesta’s invitational pass back to Silva, who shimmies on the edge of the box but then splashes a shot well wide.
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70 min Alba miscontrols Silva’s through pass around Cech, but Hubnik gets round to save a goal and concede a corner. This has been an entertaining 0-0, which can’t always be said of Spain games.
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68 min Spain have picked up where they left off before that little scare. Alba’s deep cross skims off the head of Aduriz, who couldn’t leap high enough, and now Thiago is coming on for the goal-saver Fabregas.
65 min Set pieces are the Czechs’ best chance, and they have a corner on the right. It’s played short to Krejci, whose deep cross is headed back across the face by Gebre Selassie - where the stretching Fabregas denies Kaderabek a goal with an exceptional clearance under his own bar. He’s done something in the game now! The ball eventually came back to Krejci, who put in another great cross with the outside of his left foot that skimmed a Spanish head and flew across the face of the goal. Without that touch I think a Czech player would have had a simple header.
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62 min A Spain substitution, with the 35-year-old Aditz Aduriz replacing Morata to huge cheers. He’s going to be this tournament’s Schillaci, isn’t he?
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61 min The first yellow card of the match, to Limbersky for a foul on Silva.
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60 min I’d get Thiago on for Fabregas, who has done the square root of bugger all.
58 min The Czechs almost take the lead! They had a free-kick on the right wing that was curled in by Krejci. It went over the head of the defenders and found the stretching Hubnik, whose shot would have dribbled in at the near post but for De Gea’s diving save. It was a comfortable stop in the end because Hubnik couldn’t get any pace on the ball.
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56 min Yet another chance for Spain when Kaderabek misheads the ball straight to Morata on the six-yard line. He tries to turn but is crowded out.
53 min Another corner to Spain, their 982nd of the match. Silva hits it out for a throw-in.
52 min Actually, Cech didn’t have that Hubnik effort covered at the start of the half, but it mattered not as it hit the outside of the post.
51 min Nolito’s backheel frees Alba, whose brilliant low cross goes all the way along the six-yard line. Morata was nowhere to be seen.
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50 min “This reminds one of the first half of England v Russia,” says Sam Evans. “One clearly superior team completely dominating possession & chances created, without scoring. Can totally see this ending up a draw, despite the run of play.” And Iniesta’s playing almost as well as Rooney on Saturday.
48 min “Spain had to include Xabi Alonso in line up and you can hardly leave out Busi or Xavi and as Iniesta was the most flexible, he was shunted out wider, though coming inside and being just behind Villa or Torres also let him be creative behind strikers,” says Alec Booch. True but they didn’t have to play Alonso; they could have played the Barcelona 4-1-2-3. With that midfield, it wouldn’t matter if the front three was Smyth, Murray and Doyle.
47 min From the corner, Hubnik makes two vital blocks to deny first Nolito and then Ramos.
46 min Hubnik hits his own post inside 40 seconds of the resumption. Yet another great pass from Iniesta put Morata clear on the right of the box, and his cross was unwittingly stabbed towards his own goal by Hubnik. I suspect Cech had it covered but it hit the outside of the post.
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46 min The Czechs begin the second half. The 2006 World Cup was an odd one for the Czechs as well,” says Rory McGee. “They thrashed the USA in their opener and then had a series of misfortunes/their own fault in injuuries to Koller (I think Baros was already recovering from an injury?) and two red cards. Always enjoyed Rosicky’s performance against the USA though, shame his club career never hit the heights it may have without injuries.”
That was another horrible group. They were absolutely battered by Ghana from memory.
In case you missed it, Jaap Stam is the new Reading manager. One of the greatest characters ever to play football, here he is taking on the entire Arsenal and Manchester United teams at Highbury.
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Something to talk about
If Spain had played Iniesta in central midfield all the time, with Xavi and Busquets, would they have been more exciting in 2010 and 2012? I suspect they would.
And here’s some half-time viewing, our guide to the ground.
Some half-time reading
Half-time chit-chat “Focus obviously on Spain after their disastrous World Cup two years ago,” says Dileep Premachandran. “But how about the Czechs and how far they’ve fallen? I can’t be the only one who remembers 2004, when they were the best team by a country mile. Such a thrilling attacking force. And look at them now.”
Weren’t they just. What a front six! That game against the Netherlands is the best international match of the last 30 years. They were really good in 2000 too, just very unlucky in a ridiculous group. It’s weird that they didn’t qualify for the 2002 World Cup with that team.
Half-time: Spain 0-0 Czech Republic
Expected Goals: Spain 7-0 Czech Republic.
45 min The Czechs have their first short on goal, Necid shooting straight at De Gea from 20 yards.
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40 min Yet another forensic through pass from Iniesta finds Alba, whose fierce rising shot from a tight angle is beaten away dramatically by Cech. The rebound almost came for Fabregas and Morata, but the Czechs scrambled it clear. Iniesta is putting on a masterclass in possession with progression.
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39 min Iniesta, 45 yards out, sees Cech off his line and goes for goal. For once his technique is poor and it drifts wide.
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38 min “You haven’t named the referee yet!” says JR. “It is Szymon Marciniak. And now the jackass announcer we have here in the U.S. just said the referee is like Ed Hochuli, who apparently is a referee in the NFL. Seriously? Gee, thanks for that.”
36 min Spain have played more than three times as many passes as the Czechs.
35 min Nolito is more involved now. He runs at Kaderabek and then floats an inviting pass back to Busquets, who wallops a volley into orbit from 20 yards.
33 min A lovely little pass from Nolito finds Fabregas on the left side of the box, and his low cross deflects behind for a corner. The Czechs clear, for a couple of seconds, and then it comes back again. A goal isn’t just in the post; it’s been sent by special delivery.
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32 min The Czech Republic seem to have given up on the idea of “attacking”. They can’t get out of their third, never mind their half. Iniesta - sort of the original Wayne Rooney in that position - is running the game.
30 min Nolito has been very quiet, which is a shame as he is the one who offers something a bit different.
29 min After another through pass from Iniesta, Morata drills a low left-footed shot across goal that is touched round nicely by Cech. I’m not sure whether it was going in but he still did very well to get down to it.
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27 min The Czechs win a free-kick on the left wing. Two seconds later Spain have a throw-in. They played it short and made a total Horlicks of it.
25 min Iniesta’s fierce angled through pass finds Juanfran in the box, but he can’t quite control it or play it to Morata. Iniesta had to hit it with pace to get it through the eye of the needle, and that pace led to the miscontrol.
24 min Busquets thwarts a Czech break with a Makelelian, Machiavellian foul, which he made look clumsy enough to get away without being booked.
21 min Iniesta, who is particularly good to watch when he plays that left-central midfield role, wins another corner. Again nothing happens, though Sergio Ramos is down after running into Limbersky. He’s fine.
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18 min Spain are just starting to hypnotise the Czechs with their passing. A gorgeous pass from Iniesta releases Jordi Alba, who wins a corner. Nothing comes of it.
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16 min Morata misses a great chance! It was a fine move from Spain, starting with a crossfield pass to Juanfran, who played in Silva on the underlap. His low first-time cross found Morata six yards out, and he hit it straight at Cech.
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14 min “I have to say Spain has the best kit at the Euros,” says Peter Ferry. “Their home equipación has a classic look about it. Glad to see them back to blue shorts and black socks. Woof!”
Yeah it’s lovely, apart from the orange laces.
13 min Nolito and Morata have been quiet so far. Busquets has probably seen most of the ball, but everything has been in front of the Czech Republic defence.
11 min Rosicky is shoved over by Fabregas, 20 yards from goal, but the referee gives nothing. The Czechs have had a few promising attacks, even if Spain are inevitably dominating possession.
10 min Morata slips and unwittingly ploughs through the linesman in the comedy style. “That’s what you get for wearing orange laces,” says Lee Dixon on ITV.
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8 min Cech makes a stunning reaction save from Morata, though he had been rightly flagged offside.
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8 min Juanfran’s dangerous low cross from the right is brilliantly defended by the stretching Hubnik.
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6 min It’s clear from the first few minutes that, as good as Spain still are, their aura was buried in Brazil. The Czechs look far more confident than they would have been in this fixture four years ago.
5 min Pique fouls Necid by the left corner of the box, a bit of a Sunday-league tackle for a player usually so elegant. Darida tries to surprise De Gea by whipping the free-kick in at the near post, but whaps it straight into the wall.
4 min A couple of corners for the Czechs, who are not short of units. Both are poor, however, and Spain get their ball back.
3 min A confident start from Spain, with lots of short passes until Iniesta’s clip finds Nolito in an offside position.
2 min “Admittedly, it’s largely down to McManaman’s Madrid adventure, but I’ve followed Spain since before the tiki-taka explosion made everyone love them,” says Matt Dony. “I don’t want to sound like a hipster, but I liked them before they were cool, then the bandwagon jumpers made it a crowded place to be. I was kind of relieved after their ridiculous display in Brazil, because that trimmed off a lot of the glory boys (see also ‘David Moyes’.) Frustrated that their playing an early game, though. My boss is sitting behind me, so I’m furtively following on my phone under the guise of ‘checking emails’...”
I bet you had a hamster called Salinas, didn’t you?
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1 min Peep peep! Spain, in red, kick off from left to right on a wet afternoon in Toulouse. The Czech Republic are in white.
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Strangely, given all they have achieved, it’s eight years since Spain won their first game at a major tournament. Mind you, it’s 12 since they lost a European Championship game: June 2004, the time of nu-mullets and Nuno Gomes.
“Considering myself a bit of a numbers purist (yes that’s a thing), I’m not too impressed with what’s on display here,” says Chris Parker. “Number 7s upfront for both teams, No 8 at left-back and No13 going to an outfielder for Czechs, No 3 at CB for Spain. Madness.”
Urgent pre-match business
An email!
“If the Euros were a 24-team season-long league and not a tournament, hence eliminating home advantage and making team depth far more important, would you consider Spain heavy favorites to top the table?” asks Ben Janeson. “It seems that no other team (even Germany) really has more than 16 or 17 world-class players.”
Depends: would they be in the Europa League? (Yes, definitely, and I think they’ll win this tournament as well.)
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Now, we know all about the two legendary Czechoslovakian and Czech Republic goals at the European Championship, the gentle touches of Antonin Panenka and Karel Poborsky. But sometimes it pays to give it some humpty. Just look at this.
Bottle of water taken off me on way into ground today. Security? Nah. Business. It's the wrong water. ;-)
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) June 13, 2016
Team news
David de Gea starts. So does Nolito, who will provide “rock and roll amid the violinists”. I really like the look of that Spain team with the addition of Morata and Nolito.
Spain (4-1-2-3) De Gea; Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Jordi Alba; Busquets; Fabregas, Iniesta; Silva, Morata, Nolito.
Czech Republic (4-2-3-1) Cech; Kaderabek, Sivok, Hubnik, Limbersky; Darida, Plasil; Gebre Selassie, Rosicky, Krejci, Necid.
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Preamble
The holders normally get plenty of attention, but, with the exception of the allegations against David de Gea, Spain have gone under the radar. Even though they won the last two European Championships, they don’t really feel like champions because of what happened in Brazil two years ago.
“We go again” has become part of the football lexicon in the last couple of years. But the more you experience, the harder that becomes. When you’ve won two European Championship and a World Cup, and flopped astonishingly in another World Cup, it’s not easy to know where you go, never mind how you summon the energy to get there. There is also a sense that Spain got so deep in character for their Euro 2012 Art Project that they haven’t quite been able to get out. To put it in their own language, they lost much of their joie de vivre.
And yet, they still have Iniesta and Busquets and and Iniesta and Ramos and Pique and Silva and Iniesta, and they have added De Gea (probably) and Morata. On paper, they are still the best team in the world. The opening match against the Czech Republic will give us a clue as to how good they are on the pitch.
Kick off is at 2pm BST.
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