European champions Spain swept into the semifinals of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup on Wednesday by beating Iraq 1-0 in the central South African city of Bloemfontein. It was the first team to be qualified for the last four. That triumph meant that Spain equaled the longest consecutive winning run record of 14, shared by Australia in 1996 to 1997, Brazil in 1997 and France in 2003 to 2004.
Fernando Torres (L) of Spain vies with Muayad Khalid of Iraq during the Group A second round match at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Bloemfontein, South Africa, June 17, 2009.
It also enabled Spain to move within one match of the world record mark of 35 games unbeaten established by Brazil between 1993 and 1996. With a 5-0 opening win over Oceanian champions New Zealand on Sunday, Spain had been perfectly poised to enter the first four of the Confederations Cup.
Faced with the possibility of frequent attacks from the Spanish side, Asian champions Iraq chose a tightly defensive line-up with five defenders, leaving Spanish forwards surrounded in the box. The first half ended scoreless.
That strategy, however, consumed much energy on the Iraqi side. In the 55th minute. Spanish defender Joan Capdevila sent a cross to Valencia's
David Villa who was all on his own to steer a header into the far bottom corner of the net.
Fernando Torres (L) of Spain vies with Salam Shaker of Iraq during the Group A second round match at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Bloemfontein, South Africa, June 17, 2009.
Iraq seemed to wake up, but their teamwork was not satisfactory, which was testified by their performance in the 83rd minute when a free-kick won by Iraqi midfielder Karer Jasim and delivered from the left slipped away with no Iraqi players nearby. Iraq coach Bora Milutinovic told a press conference that he was very, very happy with the performance of his team.
"Soccer is like life. Our plan is not to lose in the first match, and lose less than four goals in the second group match. Iraqi players have been very intelligent today and I am going to enjoy the results," said he, who is the only man to have coached five different teams at the FIFA World Cup.
The coach had said before the match that he believed Spain's time had come to dominate world soccer, adding that the current generation of Spanish players was one of the best he had seen.
After receiving the reward of the Budweiser Man of the Match, Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso said the match was very tough. "One goal is just enough for us to enter the semifinals. That is our main objective," said Alonso.
The Liverpool player added that the tough two-line defense of the Iraqi side made them very difficult to score. "We tried to make long-range shots from our side out of the box, but the Iraqi defenders were very close to each other. The strategy did not work."
Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque was also happy with the result, saying it was their first goal to reach the semifinals and he would give a rest to his players.
Del Bosque refused to comment on the prospect of his team in the semifinals.
Spain will play with South Africa on Saturday in Bloemfontein and Iraq will face the challenge from New Zealand on the same day in Johannesburg in the last group round.