Spain fight to defeat tough Paraguay

And so we get a pair of extremely interesting semi-finals after today's results, one side we have an overachieving Uruguay with as much history as anyone else in this tournament playing against what could be described as an underachieving Netherlands who only stepped up against Brazil. And the other semi-final will be super-charged Germany against Spain, who had some difficulty against an inspired Paraguay. Spain have made it to the semi-finals, and it's been 60 years since they last made it back in Brazil 1950.

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Villa earning Spain's penalty with a little bit of acting

Paraguay - Spain


Paraguay came out and played a high pressure style, they stopped Spain from playing that hypnotizing passing possession game. Spain weren't as crisp and fluid as usual, they didn't get a shot on target during the first 45 minutes as Paraguay created chances of their own which they sent wide, high, or right at Casillas.

With the second half came more tension, the action picked up and Paraguay got a penalty on the 60th minute mark thanks to Gerard Pique's tugging in the area. Iker Casillas saved the penalty and helped stop what could'be been the biggest upset of the tournament. Minutes later David Villa went down/dived in Paraguay's area to earn themselves a penalty of their own, Xabi Alonso had to take it twice because of encroachment in the area, and the second time Villar matched Casillas and saved. Tension continued to rise as the 90 minutes were coming close...

Then, what has to be considered the man of the tournament scored again, David Villa broke the deadlock with his 5th goal in the tournament. Iniesta layed the ball off to Pedro from the top of the area, Pedro smacked his effort onto the post, and Villa followed up scoring as the ball pinged off both posts and went in. Casillas had to prove himself near the end though as he saved well to send Spain off against Germany.